Swords of Destiny
by Eric Thorsen
Summary: What would happen if the Senshi met up with someone from their past? Someone who died, but didn't stay dead?
1. Prologue

1Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

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PROLOGUE

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14 April 1912, 1:25 AM - RMS. Titanic

The Third Class Dining room on F-deck was deserted as the man whose clothing marked him as one of the lofty members of the First class contingent came down the stairs into it. Glancing around warily he proceeded to systematically check each of the rooms leading off of the main room with exaggerated care. When he had assured himself that there was no one hiding in any of the port side rooms, he drew a long black sword from under his overcoat, and shrugged his shoulder length black ponytail over his shoulder.

"Damian Rochefort, you insufferable wretch, where are you hiding?" He bellowed, "I know your down here so there is no point in trying to make me think you're not. Come out and face me you coward!"

As he said this he continued to the starboard side to check the other rooms. When he had almost reached the door to the butcher shop he ducked instinctively as a chair crashed into the wall scattering splinters everywhere. Laughing ruefully he turned, catching sight of his adversary coming out of the pantry. The stocky Irishman glared at him as he carefully approached.

"So Drakkar, after all this time we finally meet again, and here of all places" the red-haired man in a purser's uniform bit out sarcastically. "How many times have we come close? A dozen? two? Really, old boy, you must be getting tired of all of this running about. But then you never were much for originality were you?" Rochefort continued to move toward the stairs, carefully keeping his rapier between himself and Drakkar.

"Oh, and you would know all about that wouldn't you? I still don't see how you keep getting others to do your dirty work for you," Siegmund Drakkar said ironically. "I mean how many of your minions have I removed now? eight? nine?? They must be getting hard to replace if those last two were the best you could do with all of that time I gave you."

As he said this, his eyes lighted on a chair in his path, which he hurled at Rochefort's head. As he covered the distance between them, his sword slashed in at his enemy's neck. Rochefort ducked the chair, blocked the sword and dodge around him just as a shudder rocked the entire ship. Both men were knocked to the deck, but Rochefort recovered quickly and ran up the stairway disappearing onto E-deck. Drakkar swore violently and retrieved his Ninja-to. Concealing it under his overcoat, he proceeded at a much more sedate pace than his quarry, noting the disturbances his opponent's rapid flight had caused. When he reached the grand staircase however he swore hotly. There was no sign of Rochefort anywhere. Ensuring his sword was well concealed he continued on down the crew passage toward the aft end of the great liner.

Rochefort breathed a sigh of relief as Drakkar moved down the passage in the wrong direction, but he still did not feel safe, so he continued down the ladder in this compartment and into the aft boiler room. From further forward he could hear a roaring sound, which he at first mistook for the sound of the boilers in the next compartment. When he entered it though, the first thing that struck him as odd was that the boilers were shut and damped. The second was that the boiler crews were nowhere to be seen. As he thought about this he heard another odd sound. He turned just in time to see water come through the forward watertight door, just before it closed, as did the one behind him. Swearing at his own stupidity he ran toward the escape hatch to F-deck. When he finally found it, he discovered to his dismay that the hatch was blocked from above for some reason. Running back through the central portion of the boiler room he took note of the angle the deck had taken, and realized to his horror that the ship was taking on water quickly.

Judging from the shudder he had felt earlier, it must have struck something, and the only things out here besides them were other ships and icebergs. The closest ship had sent a message earlier that they were stopping for the night, so that only left ice as the possible explanation. While he was thinking this out, he became aware of a sound he had not expected to hear; that of water falling from a height. He realized this must mean that the water in the forward compartments must be spilling over the top of the bulkheads. If it was doing that though then it was only a matter of time until the ship sank. With renewed energy he searched through the tool lockers until he found a large pry bar. Returning to the hatch, he braced the bar in it and with desperate strength forced the hatch open, wincing slightly at the horrendous crash he heard coming from above him.

Raising his head out of the opening above, Rochefort saw that he had knocked over a china cabinet that had been moved onto the hatch in the final hurried phases of fitting out. Leaving the china room he proceeded down the passage toward the aft end of the ship. He finally recognized where he had come out by the crowds standing and waiting. The Main Third Class entrance was packed solid when he came to it and he resigned him self to a long wait.

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Siegmund Drakkar was very angry with himself at this point. He had finally given up trying to find Rochefort and was on his way back up from the forward portion of E-deck when he felt a tingling sensation in his head and grabbed his sword. He didn't draw it yet, waiting to see who was coming near him. Then a very harried looking man in a tuxedo ran up to him.

"Damn it man, what have you been doing for the last hour? You said you were only going to the library and would be back in fifteen minutes." He said as he tried to catch his breath

"Oh, calm down Scott, it's not as if I had missed a meeting or something you know. Besides, while I was on the Promenade I spotted Rochefort, and you know what happened then. Anyway, I lost him about ten minutes ago and I've been trying to get back out of the boiler rooms for the last five minutes."

"Rochefort is here? That is beside the point, Ziggy, we need to get our life jackets on and get to the boat deck now. The stewards are being very cagey about something and I don't trust them. Something is going wrong, very horribly wrong, and I have the feeling we'll need every advantage we can get soon." Scott Schwartzstern bit out.

"Really, Scott old boy you should try to stay calm, I'm sure it's only a drill or something. The ship is unsinkable right?" Drakkar laughed " I mean it's not as if we have to be somewhere else in a great hurry or something".

"Listen, my friend, if the ship were made of iron, which she is, then she most definitely could sink, and if I'm right, is doing just that right now." Schwartzstern said with exaggerated patience.

Noticing the angle of the deck for the first time, Drakkar swore and started running aft toward the grand staircase in order to get his life jacket. Shaking his head Schwartzstern followed at a much more sedate pace.

"It's not as if we had anywhere else to be' he says." Scott laughed to

himself; "One of these days that boy will get a very nasty surprise. I just hope he survives long enough to learn from it."

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Rochefort finally got tired of waiting at the bottom of the stairwell and muscled his way up the stairs. The sight that greeted him when he finally reached the top was surprising to say the least. Standing behind the locked gate to the upper decks of the ship was a man in a Stewards uniform. The steward was laughing as a softly glowing mist came through the bars to collect into a ball directly in front of him, while every person at the gate, and for ten feet after that was laying on the deck for all intents and purposes unconscious.

Swearing violently, Rochefort rushed to gate. "Damn you, you laughing hyena, what in the name of all the gods do you think your doing. Open this gate at once or I'll do it myself."

Laughing maniacally, the steward shouts back at him "Go ahead and try it, you foolish human. Do it and I shall punish you." As the words came out he thought to himself "I can't believe I just said that." With that he drew a pistol from his pocket and pointed it toward Rochefort.

Ignoring the pistol for the moment, Rochefort drew his rapier and advanced on the gate. As the steward laughed even louder at this, he smirked, and drawing his arm back, cut straight through the lock. The shriek of metal on metal was punctuated by the sudden absence of laughter as the steward stared in horror at the remains of the lock, and the sword held in Rochefort's hand. Firing his pistol three times into Rochefort's chest he backed away. Rochefort stumbled back a few steps then, grinning evilly, started to advance on his nemesis. In horror the man turned and ran down the passage, then at the end of the corridor he turned again and shouting the words "Thunder Strike" Pointed his now cupped hands at Rochefort. From his hands a painfully bright ball of energy formed and flew toward Rochefort, engulfing his lower torso in flames, and he was knocked thirty feet down the passage way and lay still.

Laughing softly to himself the man was suddenly bathed in an unearthly glow, blocking all sight of him. When he reappeared he was wearing a uniform unlike any worn anywhere on Earth. Still laughing he began walking down the passage, away from his opponent's crumpled form. A soft rustle behind him distracted him from his pleasant thoughts of the favor this would earn his faction with the queen. As he looked back he noticed that the crumpled form was missing. Then the gleam of the passage lights flashed off of the sword as his opponent moved toward him. Turning in abject terror he fled toward the chief stewards' office and supposed safety. Rochefort hounded him through the brightly lit crew passages and before the man could stop him, into the chief steward's office.

"All right then, if you're done trying to kill me, I have a few questions and the answers had better be good or this room will be the last you see." Rochefort growled in his most menacing tone. "First, what is your name, and what is your business here; oh and don't give me any of that shit about being a White Star Line employee because if there is one thing you aren't it's human."

"Okay, I'll tell you. Please don't kill me," The man pleaded.

"Better start talking, I'm losing my patience." Rochefort said angrily,

while bringing his rapier up to the man's neck.

"I'm called General Jarosite. I'm from the Negaverse. I'm collecting energy for my queen, Queen Beryl." said Jarosite nervously while looking at the blade at his neck.

"Negaverse? Where is this 'Negaverse'?" Rochefort asked.

"It's another dimension." Jarosite replied, noticing for the first time that water was entering the room.

"Oh really. Now why were you taking energy? Couldn't you get a boiler or something?" Rochefort noticed the water coming under the door and decided to make this 'Jarosite' sweat a little.

"We need a different kind of energy than what you mentioned." Jarosite looked at the man that had him trapped and at his mercy, and it looked to him that the man didn't care that the boat was sinking and that water was entering the room. "We need what you would call life energy."

"So is that why those people were unconscious at that gate." Rochefort said, bringing his sword closer to Jarosite's neck.

"Yes. I was taking fear energy from those people until you came." Jarosite saw that the water was covering their feet, and that the man had blase look on his face.

"And what do you do with this energy?"

"We use it for any purpose we need it for, magic mostly."

"Oh really, and what would be one of those purposes be?"

"Um ... to take over the Earth."

"So let me get this straight. You are taking energy from people so your queen can, and I quote, Rule the world. Come on man you'll have to be able to come with something better than that, I mean that has got to be the most cliched excuse for anything I have ever heard."

"You have a point there, but how do you explain your ability to withstand that energy blast? I mean, I've used that on some of the strongest humans I've ever met and they were dead before they hit the floor."

Rochefort then got a sly smile on his face, "That's my secret, but back to the previous topic, I think that I can come up with a better goal for a group with your potential, that gets all of us what we want too. But, first I'm going to need to talk to this Queen Beryl of yours to work out the details."

"O-o-o-o-okay, but how would you suggest we get out of this, I mean in case you haven't noticed sir, the ship is sinking." pointing out the water which was now ankle high in the room.

"You said you use the energy for magic didn't you, well I would say this was as good a time as any to use it to get us out of here." With this said Rochefort removed his sword from Jarosite's neck. "Oh, and I wouldn't try to double cross me by leaving me behind if I were you, you know, that would just make me even angrier than I am now. Believe me when I say you would not want to see that, ever."

Visibly shaken, Jarosite merely nodded and drew a crystal from his pocket, which opened the gate to the Negaverse. Rochefort smirked and motioned Jarosite to precede him through the gate. As he vanished through the gate the look on Rochefort's face would have frightened the bravest general Beryl could boast. He then stepped through the gate his thoughts turning to how he could use this to get to Drakkar. That man had been a thorn in his side for too long.

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Drakkar and Schwartzstern were walking calmly up the grand staircase, when they heard a gun shot coming from the chief purser's office. Making their way along the passage they drew their swords, Drakkar giving his companion a devilish grin as if to say "Won't they be surprised when they see us." Schwartzstern merely shook his head in disbelief as they walked onward. When they finally reached the door into the purser's strong room. As they listened at the door they heard the sound of the strong boxes being broken open and the contents clattering together as they were emptied into another container. At a nod from Schwartzstern, Siegmund rushed the door and broke it down, revealing the junior pursers emptying jewelry into a large satchel. From the guilty looks the four men shot him as he entered, Drakkar became suspicious that they were acting on their own initiative.

"Gentlemen, do those things belong to you?" at their startled expressions, he laughed "I didn't think so."

As Drakkar started forward with his sword ready, the four men moved to surround him.

"Why should you care what we do with this stuff?" the older of the four men scoffed, "Besides unless you tell someone, why should anyone suspect that it didn't all go down with the ship?"

"Who says I haven't told someone already," Siegmund said confidently, thinking to himself "Hurry up Scott, you tortoise"

As the men laughingly aimed their pistols at Drakkar's head, the one with his back to the door suddenly crumpled to the floor, revealing a grinning Scott behind him. As the spokesman of the group whirled to bring his gun to bear on the new threat, Scott swept his Katana down cutting the pistol neatly in half. As the man gaped at his now useless weapon, Scott grinned evilly at him.

"Make another move and you're next", he growled as Drakkar moved around behind the other two men and collected their weapons.

"Damn it man, what took you so long," Siegmund grumbled while keeping his sword to one of the pursers' throat. "They almost shot me, and you know how much it hurts when they do that. Any way, what should we do with these four aspiring thieves, Hmmm?"

"I suppose we'll just have to let them go, Ziggy" Schwartzstern sighed at the bloodthirsty look in Drakkar's eye. "Without any of the jewels of course, " he added as the three men started to smile in eager anticipation again. "Can't have them profiting from other's misfortunes now can we." He smiled pleasantly at the now downcast would-be thieves. "Gentlemen, if I were you, I would just forget all of this and run for your lives now. This may be your only chance to save yourselves." With that he removed his sword from the leaders throat, motioning for Drakkar to do the same. As soon as the swords were removed from their throats, the three men hurriedly gathered their unconscious companion and fled the room.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would," Scott said wryly. "You really need to be more careful Ziggy, next time I may not be there to back you up and someone might end up with a very permanent case of dead."

"Thanks for the advice Scott," Drakkar laughed, "but don't you think we should be following the advice you just gave those four?"

Noticing the increasing angle of the deck, Scott swore silently. "You're right, we have to get out of here now." With that he turned and started running back the way they had come. About halfway down the passage he noted that Drakkar was not behind him. Looking back at the strong room, he saw Siegmund staring at a blue gem set in a silver medallion... He yelled back at Drakkar, to get him moving. Shaking himself as if just waking form a dream, Drakkar swore loudly and ran to rejoin his companion not noticing that he had placed the medallion in his pocket.

They came up on deck to find that the boat deck was in chaos and the boats were leaving half full. People were fighting, jumping into, or even being knocked into the sea. As they realized that there were no boats left at the forward end of the ship, they made their way aft, looking for spaces on boats. It soon became apparent that there were none to be had, and continued to the aft part of the ship. Drakkar noticed that the deck was taking an even steeper angle. He stared in shock as the ship tilted to a fifty-degree angle, then jumped when he heard several sharp cracking sounds and felt the ship shudder. He felt a sudden weightlessness and then a shock as the stern fell back into the sea with a horrendous shriek as the ship cracked in half then crashed back into the ocean. Then the stern rose again and Scott swore, recommending that they climb the rail and to hold on as it was rising. The stern then became vertical and started bobbing around on the surface for a few minutes. The stern then sank quickly. Just as the ship was about to finish sinking, Scott indicated they should throw their swords away so they could swim better.

After returning to the surface, they waited there for any rescue party to come and save the survivors in the water. Both of them were treading water and getting small groups together so they could keep somewhat warm in the freezing water of the Atlantic. After several minutes, both Scott and Drakkar found that their little group was slowly dying of hypothermia and that the rescue party had not arrived yet. When the last of their small group died, they struck out the direction they believed was west and started swimming for shore.

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TWO WEEKS LATER:

As Mark White walked down the beach from his cottage outside Burin he saw two men stumbling towards him. They both wore the remains of fine evening clothes, which showed signs of a long time in the ocean. As they came closer he noticed that they both needed a shave badly along with a bath considering the salt deposits in their beards. One of the two noticed him and started moving toward him. The other just flopped down in the sand.

"Excuse me sir, but would you happen to know where we are?" the man asked in a gravely voice.

"Well, you are on the east cost of the island of New Foundland, near the village of Burin. Are you two all right? Where did you come from?" the startled man asked.

"The ship we were on sank a little back, two weeks ago I think, and we came ashore recently. What we need the most is some food, a bath, and a couple centuries in a warm bed. Where would the nearest hotel be? Oh, I guess I should introduce myself and my friend over there, shouldn't I. My name is Scott Schwartzstern Jr., the guy who is pretending to be dead over there, is my traveling companion, Kevin O'Connell." Scott chuckled.

"Well the only hotel in these parts is the one in Grand Banks, but that's about twenty-five miles west of here." Mark said, glancing at the prone man who had groaned at the mention of the distance mentioned. "It would take about two days by sleigh but only one by ship," O'Connell groaned louder. "Is your friend okay? We have a doctor in the town if he needs one."

"No, I don't think he needs a doctor, but I think we need that ride to that hotel in Grand Bank. Do you know anyone who'll be going there soon?" Schwartzstern asked hopefully.

"The mail will be leaving tomorrow for Grand Bank, but the trader ship leaves tonight and will be there by morning." White said encouragingly.

"Oh well, I guess we'll have to take the ship then," Schwartzstern shuddered accompanied by the loud groaning coming from O'Connell. "Thank you for the information, Sir."

With that he walked toward the town and the harbor. O'Connell slowly got to his feet, and followed his friend. When he reached White's side he glanced toward Schwartzstern, then grinned wolfishly at the bewildered man, and handing him a necklace, held his finger to his lips and proceeded into town. On the way to the town, Scott decided to talk to Kevin.

"Hey, Ziggy?" asked Scott.

"Yes?" replied Kevin when he caught up to Scott.

"Thank you for what you did."

"What did I do?" asked Kevin slightly confused as to what Scott was talking about.

"For what you gave that man." replied Scott.

"How did you know, you weren't even looking at us." said Kevin surprised that Scott knew that he had given the necklace to the man.

"Ziggy, I've known you for about seven hundred years now. I know how you act and what you do. I know you took some of that jewelry. I may not like what you do, and I know I can't stop you either, but at least you do it for good intentions at times. Now let us get on a ... (shudder) ... ship and get us a hotel room to get ourselves back together again."

"Yeah, you're right. A Hotel room is what we need." replied Kevin as they made it to the harbor and Kevin did the talking and the persuading that got them on the boat that would take them to Grand Banks.

Upon getting into their stateroom on the ship, they laid on the beds provided to rest their tired muscles. After resting for a few minutes, Kevin started to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, Scott?" asked Kevin.

"Yes, Ziggy?" replied Scott from the other rack.

"After we rested at the hotel for a while, what are you going to do?"

"After I claim the insurance money on my 'father', I plan on moving to the States for a while. You know, sort of lay low for some time at my cabin in Wisconsin. After that, I might move back to Japan. I haven't been there in ages. I miss my friends. What about you?"

"Don't really know right now. I'll probably check to see if Rochefort survived and go after him. Other than that, I'll probably wander around for a while."

"Well, you'll know where I'll be. See you in the morning, Ziggy."

"Yeah, night, Scott."

The ship made it safely to Grand Banks and the two men went to the hotel to revive from their two-week ordeal and go their separate ways until they met again.


	2. Misunderstandings I

Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

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Chapter One - Misunderstanding part I

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April 20, 1999, Tokyo, Juuban Ward

"Today, another victim was found in Shinjuku in the latest of a series of bizarre murders," The News Commentator announced expressionlessly. "The victim's decapitated body was found at approximately 6:45 p.m. this evening in a short deserted alley with her head lying a few feet away. This raises the body count to five on this the eleventh day after the discovery of the first victim in Achihabara. The police are withholding the identity of the victim pending notification of next of kin. The identity of the killer is unknown, and the police have yet to find any connection between the victims other than the circumstances of their deaths. This station will report any additional information as it becomes available. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming........" The newscaster's image then faded out to be replaced by the opening credits of "Sailor V Supers".

Luna was watching the news because she had a feeling that the Negaverse was back. Everyone of the inner Senshi was at the Hikawa Jinja shrine for a sailor meeting, but were waiting for Usagi to get out of detention for being late. Most of the girls came from school, so they were dressed in their school uniforms, but Rei had put on her robes when she had come home from school. When the news report was done, they all started talking to pass some time while they waited for Usagi.

"I have a feeling that the Negaverse is behind those beheadings." said Luna.

"How can the Negaverse be responsible for the beheadings?" Minako asked in confusion. "I don't think I want to know how they would get energy from killing people."

"I don't know how, but I know that they are," Luna said heatedly.

"Luna might be right, I have been getting some bad feelings lately," Rei stated. "I know the Negaverse is up to something."

"But I have to agree with Minako, I don't know how the Negaverse would get energy by killing people." said Makoto. "What I'm thinking is that there is a serial killer on the loose in our town, and I think that it's the job of the Sailor Senshi to stop them."

"Stop who?" came a voice behind them. They all turned around to see that Usagi was standing at the doorway breathing heavily.

"Its about time you got here," Rei said with biting sarcasm in her voice

"Hey, I can't help it if Mrs. H gives me detention for trying to study late at night," Usagi whined, glaring at Rei.

"Maybe if you didn't watch TV all the time, you could have studied earlier, and then gone to bed sooner," Rei argued.

"But my favorite shows were on and I didn't want to miss them." Usagi said.

"If you girls can stop your arguing, we have more important things to talk about." Luna interrupted with a hint of anger in her voice.

"And what would that be?" Usagi asked, ignoring Rei.

"Luna thinks that the Negaverse is behind all those beheadings that have been happening lately." Ami replied calmly.

"But why would they do that?" Usagi demanded, confused "How could killing people help them?"

"We don't really know," Artemis conceded. "I doesn't fit any of their operating patterns."

"What are you talking about?" Rei said in disbelief. "They kill each other at the dop of a hat. What's to stop them from killing others if it will give them something they want. They certainly did it back in the Silver Millenium."

"Yes, but there was a reason then," Artemis explained. "This is completely unlike anything they've ever done before."

"The thing that worries me is that they might be killing people for their life Energy," Luna finally said gravely. "Even though I don't know how they could, I don't like to think about what that would mean."

"What do you mean Luna?" Ami asked, Intrigued.

"If they have developed a way of harvesting human life force energy at the point of death, then we might not be able to stop them this time." Luna said baldly. "They'd kill you easily."

"Wahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! IDon'twannaDieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!" Usagi wailed in fear

"Get a grip Usagi," Rei growled. "It's not as if we didn't stop Beryl when she decided to come back. Even Chaos wasn't able to beat us." Usagi looked to be calming down when Makoto spoke.

"Personally I think that it's just some sicko, you know? A serial killer who gets their kick from cutting people's heads off."

"If that's the case then we need to go out there and stop them before they kill anyone else" Minako said forcefully. "It's our job."

"But what if one of us gets hurt?" Usagi asked fearfully. "Shouldn't we just let the police find him?"

"What's wrong with you Usagi?" Rei demanded angrily. "WE are the defenders of love and justice. Or did you forget? We can't just leave this to the police. We have to do something."

"The only question is what?" Ami said thoughtfully, then held up her hand when Rei protested. "I agree with you in principle Rei, but what we need to think about is how we go about it."

"Well we'll need to bring Michiru and the others into this," Minako said seriously. "Do you think they'll help?"

"Only if they have to," Makoto grumbled, then grinned. "Of course, as the Moon Princess, if Usagi asks them they have to."

"Me???" Usagi gasped. "Why would they listen to me?"

"Because they have to!" Rei bit out sardonically. "You're the Moon Princess, and they are your Senshi. You're the heir to the Moon Kingdom Usagi, so act like it!" Usagi blinked and stared at Rei for several seconds, then turned to the others. Their expressions told her everything she needed to know.

"I'll give them a call," She whispered, and quickly left the room.

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Earlier that day at Crossroads Junior High, Chibi-Usa and Hotaru were given a very difficult assignment at the end of the day.

"Today class, you start on your history projects for your final exam. For this project you must find an object or building, and then research its history. It must be at least 70 years old, and if it's an object, must have belonged to at least four separate people at verifiable times. This means that if it is a family heirloom it will probably be older and harder to research, and no Akiko you may not use your family shrine for your project. You can work with a partner if you want, but the work must be equally shared." The teacher then dismissed her class.

"Now what are we going to do, " Hotaru wailed " neither one of us knows anything about old stuff."

"Or at least not any that she would believe anyway." Chibi-Usa giggled. Then became serious. "We really need to find something though," she sighed. Looking around as if hoping for inspiration to strike. She noticed a piece of paper blowing in the wind. Catching hold of the sheet she realized it was an advertisement for a grand opening. "Hey Hotaru-chan, look at this."

On the sheet in bold red letters was the legend "GRAND OPENING, WRECKS AND RELICS, AN ADVENTURE IN TIME, antiques and collectibles from famous and infamous disasters. All antiques come with a fully documented and verified history and lists of owners for the serious collector."

"Looks like the answer to all our problems." Hotaru said in surprise. "Where is that antique shop?"

Chibi-Usa looked at the page for the address and found out that they were a few blocks away from the antique shop. "It's just a short walk from here."

"Well then, let's check it out." said Hotaru with a smile and started to run in the direction of the shop after glancing at the paper. Chibi-Usa started to run after her after a brief moment of wondering where she was going.

"No fair running ahead of me." Chibi-Usa yelled at Hotaru.

In a matter of minutes, they had made it to the front of the antique shop. The name of the shop read, "The Lost World of Wonders". They entered the shop and looked around the place. What they saw was unbelievable. The shop had old armor, weapons, pottery, coins, and other things that the girls couldn't recognize. They started to look at the various items in the shop to think of what they could do their history project on.

Unknown to the two girls, in the back room a man that looked to be in his mid-twenties was taking a picture out of a shipping case. When he heard the chimes that signaled that someone had entered his shop. He looked at the security cameras and saw that two young girls in school uniforms had entered the shop and were looking around a bit confused. One of the girls had straight, black shoulder length hair, and the other girl had what he figured was dyed pink hair, long but done up into two, cone-like bundles on the top of her head. The man smiled and picked up the picture and headed out to the main part of the shop to see what the girls wanted.

The two girls kept looking around the shop, seeing old pictures, artifacts from shipwrecks, and jewelry. Then they heard a door open and saw a man in his mid-twenties, carrying a picture, walking towards them. He was clean-shaven, about six feet tall, dressed in a two piece suit that had never seen a department store. The girls were entranced by his looks that they didn't realize that they were staring at him. When he got to the girls, he smiled as he placed the picture down.

"Can I help you girls?" the man asked, smiling at the two girls kindly.

Chibi-Usa was the first one to come out of her trance and blushed realizing what she was thinking, and replied to the man.

"My friend and I are working on a history project for school, and we saw an ad for this shop and thought that it might help us." Hotaru finally came out of her trance when Chibi-Usa elbowed her side to get her attention.

"What is the assignment and then I'll see what I can do for you." asked the man.

"We have to research something that is at least 70 years old and if it's an item, owned by at least four different people, with verified dates and times." said Chibi-Usa.

"You came to the right place then. Follow me and I'll explain some of the items in the shop here." The man set the picture out of the way and leaned it against a display case and started to walk to a display case full of many different kinds of swords.

The girls followed the man around his shop, looking at the items he was pointing out, listening to the descriptions he was giving. He was telling the girls a brief history of how each item was created, by who and how, and how each item was used. The girls were impressed with how much he knew about each item, but they still had no real clue what to do their project on. Chibi-Usa started to talk to Hotaru about what they should do. After a few minutes, they agreed on a topic.

"We think we found a topic to do our project on." said Chibi-Usa

"That is good. What would it be, if you don't mind my asking?" the man said.

"You seem to know a lot about weapons and armor and stuff like that."

"You could say that."

"So we decided to do our project on that scabbard you showed us."

"That's a pretty good idea. A friend of mine could help you out a lot better than I could though. His hobby is collecting old swords. In fact that one was part of his collection that he wanted to sell. I could give him a call and see if he can talk to you two. If you like, you can come back tomorrow afternoon. I'll see if he can make it then."

"Thanks, very much." said Chibi-Usa and Hotaru at the same time.

"No problem. But if you can't make it, give me a call." said the man as he handed both of them his business card. They both looked at the card and saw that the man's name was Scott Schwartzstern.

"OK, we will." said Chibi-Usa.

"In the mean time, I'll let you borrow this so you can start on your project. My friend owned this, so he should have the documentation you two are looking for." Scott said as he opened one of the display cases and pulled out the intricately detailed scabbard and handed it to Chibi-Usa. He then told them about some of its history and both of the girls took notes on what he was saying. After he was done, he said farewell to the two girls.

As the two girls were about to leave, Scott stopped them and told them to wait for a minute. Scott went to the back room and came back out a few minutes later with something in his hand. He came up to the girls and placed a coin in each of their hands. The girls looked at the each of the coins and then looked at him. He just told them that they were good luck charms. They both smiled, thanked him again, then left the shop. Scott watched them leave then went to the back and made the phone call, and went back to taking care of the picture he had been working on earlier. After walking in silence for a few minutes, Chibi-Usa decided to talk to Hotaru.

"For a moment there, that man looked sort of familiar to me." Chibi-Usa said in confusion.

"You too? He sort of reminds me of someone I knew during the Silver Millennium." Hotaru replied in surprise. "Where do you remember him from?"

"I think I remember someone that looks like him from Crystal Tokyo, but it must be my imagination."

"I guess, but it still is a little weird feeling like I know him."

Chibi-Usa said good-bye to Hotaru when she had to go home. When Chibi-Usa got back to the Tsukino residence, she headed to Usagi's room, so that Usagi could help her with her homework. Inside she saw Usagi reading what appeared to be a textbook. Upon a closer look, Chibi-Usa saw that Usagi was really reading a manga magazine inside her book.

"You should be doing your homework, not reading that magazine." Chibi-Usa said giggling.

"I was just taking a break from studying for a bit." Usagi replied defensively

"Sure, right."

"I've got to take a break. Luna is so concerned that the Negaverse is responsible for the beheadings, and the others want to go looking for a serial killer. I needed a break."

"Sure, whatever." said Chibi-Usa sarcastically as she went and started her homework. When she was done with her homework, she saw that Usagi was still reading the manga magazine. She sighed and asked what went on at the meeting. Usagi told her about all that they had discussed at the meeting. After Usagi was done filling her in, Chibi-Usa went to talk to Mrs. Tsukino about her project and about talking to the antique dealer the next day.

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Ginza District, 2:38 a.m.

Mellisa Johnson stormed along the aisle between the cars swearing to herself as she pulled her keys out of the pocket of her jeans. After finally getting to her car, she opened the door, and slammed it behind her, smiling viciously as the engine roared to life. As she backed out of the space she saw a man in a brown leather duster coat and cowboy hat walking toward her and felt the jangling along her nerves that had started only three days before, when her life had suddenly turned around. Whimpering, she realized that she wouldn't be able to get away from him this time.

"Hello Mellisa, why have you been running away from me?" He asked, an amused expression dancing across his face. "I'm not trying to hurt you."

"Why can't you just leave me alone Kevin?" Mellisa demanded angrily. "I already told you that I'm not interested in what you have to say."

"I only wish it was that simple Mellisa," Kevin sighed shaking his head sadly. "But I can't leave you alone. Don't you understand that? If I leave you alone now, Damian or one of the others will kill you like a dumb animal. I can't let that happen, I promised your parents that I'd look after you."

"That was before I died wasn't it?" Mellisa growled venomously. "Now I'm immortal, like you, but not like my parents. Oh no, they died just like everyone else on the boat. Why me? Why not them? Why not my little brother?!"

"I can't give you the answers you wan't Mellisa," Kevin groaned, feeling the pain of the loss again. "I only know that you are very vulnerable right now. Come on Melly, I just want to help you learn what you need to servive."

"Did it ever occur you that I might want to die?!" She cried hoarsely. "Everything is gone. The boat, our house, even David. WHY?!!!!"

"Damian wanted to get to you," Kevin said in resignation. "He somehow figured out that you were going to become immortal. He must have set the accident up."

"How can you be so sure?!" She said, her disbelief obvious. "How do you know it wasn't just bad luck."

"Daryl Thorne was seen near your parent's boat the day before the explosion Mellisa. Since Rochefort always keeps that maniac on a short leash, there is no other possible explanation than that."

"You could have been the target."

"Hardly," Kevin said with a laugh. "That bomb wouldn't have done any more than hurt me a lot. While I admit it could have been one of his lame attempts at revenge, I doubt it. It's much more likely that he was making sure you became immortal. I only just met your parents last year."

"But..." Mellisa blinked in surprise, then glared at him. "Then why did they make you my guardian?!"

"Your mother knew I was Immortal," Kevin admitted heavily. "She was the doctor on call when I was brought in after I crashed my ultralight."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mellisa demanded. "I thought you barely had a scratch after that."

"Actually, no," Kevin said sitting on the hood of the car. "That's only what your mom told her supervisors. I doubt they would have believed it if she told them that I was being fitted with a toe tag when I came back. They didn't really seem to be the religious kind."

"That's for sure," Mellisa said with a strained laugh. "I doubt those guys have ever been inside... What's wrong?"

"Go to drakkensheim, Mellisa." Kevin said looking around cautiously.

"What... Why?!"

"Just go!"

In a panic, Mellisa put the car in gear and drove off with the tires squealing. Kevin looked around then swore when he heard a squeal of tires the sound of two cars coming together at high speed. Running toward the elevators, he hoped he was wrong.

When he got to the bottom floor he swore, recognizing Mellisa's car what he saw beside the car stopped him in his tracks. Mellisa was lying ten feet away, in the planter. She had obviously crawled from the wreck, but what stopped him was the realization that he couldn't feel her any more. Stumbling toward her, he stopped with a groan when he saw her head lying as if she were buried in the concrete floor. There was an ugly burn scar that he recognized immediately, in the middle of her forehead.

"Thorne!!!!!!!!!!!!" He roared in fury, running as he heard the sound of approaching sirens.

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Juuban District, 8:00 a.m.

Minako came down to breakfast sleepily tying the neckerchief of her school uniform. After Usagi had made her call, Makoto had left, saying something about trying to figure something out. Minako had left soon after her, agreeing to meet there again the next afternoon. Ami had even agreed to make sure that Usagi made it to school on time so she could avoid detention.

After smiling at her father, who was watching the news, she wandered into the kitchen and sat at the table.

"Good morning Mina-chan, did you sleep well?" Her mother asked, setting a plate on the table in front of her.

"Okay," Minako replied indifferently. "I'm really sleepy for some reason."

"It could be because you were up until 2 a.m. last night," Her mother said, mock severely. "You still need sleep dear, but you know that. I just worry at times."

"I know Mom, thanks," Minako said with a grateful smile, finishing her breakfast. "I'm going to be over at Rei's again tonight until about eight, okay?"

"That's fine dear," Her mother said, returning the smile. "Don't forget to ask your father for the money for your field trip. You know how he is about last minute requests."

"Don't I just," Minako giggled. "Thanks again." She gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, and walked into the living room and was starting to ask her father for the money when the news item caught her attention.

"Another victim in what is coming to be known as the Oni slayings has been found at an upscale apartment complex in the Ginza district," The Commentator announced as images of a wrecked pair of cars were shown in the background. "As with all others, the victim was beheaded. However the first common thread between two victims has been found. In the last two killings, both victims were females in their early twenties, and both bodies have been marked in similar ways. For obvious reasons, the actual marking on the bodies may not be shown, but the police have issued an artist's sketch of the mark in the hopes that it will lead to more information on this case." As he said this, the image of the sketch filled the screen. The design was an oval, crossed by a staff and a sword. The other markings looked like a star pattern on one side and the symbol from Sailor Mercury's henshin rod on the other. "In financial news..."

"You were saying Mina-chan?" Her father asked when Minako didn't continue immediately.

"Oh...um, we're going on a field trip for our end of year project next week and Miss Yamagiri says we'll need 15000 yen," Minako explained. "The trip isn't until friday, but she says we need to bring the money on Monday."

"These project trips weren't that expensive when I was in high school," Mr. Aino said with a wince, then smiled. "Are you sure you're not padding the amount to get some extra pocket money?"

"Daddy!"

"Okay, don't worry, I'll have it for you monday morning."

"Thanks Daddy, your the best," Giving her father a kiss, she grabbed her school bag and ran for the door. It wasn't until school was almost over, that she remembered the design that had been shown on the news. Skecthing it in her notebook, Minako decided to show it to the others. Especailly since it had the symbol from Ami's henshin rod on it and not the official symbol of the planet Mercury on it.

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Daryl Thorne was grinning broadly as he sauntered into the throne room and bowed insolently, "You wanted me for somethin' Damian?"

Rochefort, sitting on the throne, ignored Thorne's statement for several seconds, fixing the man with a cold glame. When Thorne started fidgetting Damian nodded imperceptably. "Yes Daryl I did," he replied in a low tone. "You failed to follow my instrunctions."

"But... you told me to take out the Johnson girl as soon as possible."

"Yes, I did," Damian said grimly, "I also told you to maintain a low profile."

"I did," Daryl said defensinvely. "No one saw me coming or going, and only the victims saw me at the scene."

"I'm aware of that," Damian granted irritably, "What you have yet to explain is why you're leaving a calling card like a common serial killer. Is that what you call mainting a low profile?!!" Daryl blanched at the cold fury that filled Damians voice and glanced nervously at the Youma guards that surrounded the hall. "You will no longer be assigned to the female victims in the Tokyo area as from now, Annie has that well in hand. Your victims will all be males, and if you leave that fodush mark on any of them, I will personally feed your intenstines to one of my guards. Is that clear enough?!"

"Crystal."

"Excellent, then you may procede with your next opperation. Remember, I don't want Drakkar to know what's going on until it is much too late.

"Of course, my lord," Daryl said, bowing with much less confidence. He hurried from the room, not noticing Jarostie as he stood behind one of the many pillars. After a time Jarosite also left, returning to the Youma Production facilities that Damian had ordered him to monitor.

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"What is this all about Usagi?" Haruka asked irratably." I thought Setsuna said there wasn't going to be any trouble for a while."

"She was propably right," Usagi replied nervously, looking to Makoto for support. "This is about something that Setsuna might not have noticed. There's a serial killer loose in Tokyo."

"And ..." Haruka said pointedly . "What does that have to do with us?"

"We're the defenders of love and justice," Rei said, her voice rising in disbelief. "If the police can't find out who's doing this, we'll have to stop this killer ourselves."

"Why?" Michiru asked calmly, looking at Rei.

"'Why'?!" Rei demanded. "What do you mean why? Some evil slime ball is out there killing people by cutting their heads off, and you want to know why he should be stopped?"

"No Rei, I want to know why we should do it," Michiru repled serously. "The police perfectly capable of dealing with a normal maniac." Everyone was quiet for several seconds until Minako cleared her throat.

"I agree with Michiru, " she sighed, holding up her hand to stop Rei from arguing with her. "The police are capable of dealing with normal criminals, but I don't know if this one is normal. Two of the victims had this symbol on their bodies." She showed everyone the sketch she'd drawn. Everyone look at it, then turned to Ami who had gasped when she saw it.

"What is it Ami?" Luna asked, jumping to the girls lap.

"I don't know," Ami murmured uncertainly. "It's just it's familiar."

"Where did you see it before?" Artemus queried, looking closer at the sketch "It looks like a betrothal medallion from the Silver Millenium."

"A betrothal medallion?" Luna said looking closer as well "it can't be, he died before the final assault."

"Who died?" Usagi demanded, seeing Ami stiffen in surprise. "Who are you talking about Luna?"

"No one you need to worry about," Artemis said quickly, glaring at Luna. "The design does match an artifact from the Moon Kingdom though, which could point to a negverse connection, those scum weren't above looting during their final attack."

"But who was it?"

"Who cares Usagi?" Rei barked angrily. "There's a serial killer running around loose out there and you want to know about someone who's been dead for 2000 years. Get your priorities straight."

"That's enough Rei," Michiru said flatly, causing everyone to stare at her. "Usagi's priorities are not in question here. What is, is why this is so important to you."

"I think I can answer that," Luna said softly, gaining everyone's attention immediately. "The Inner Senshi have always been the Moon Kingdom's police force. It was that way for several thousand years. I don't doubt that the drive to solve crimes is genetic by now."

"How does this involve us?" Haruka demanded. "We aren't any kind of police force."

"That may be, but if this is a Negaverse plot, we can't just leave it alone," Minako sighed, looking at Haruka and Michiru pleadingly. "If the police run into a youma, they'll get hurt, maybe even killed."

"All we really need to do is patrol," Makoto advised, seeing that Haruka was wavering. "If the Negaverse is involved, we have stop them. If they're not, then we can leave it to the police."

"Okay, fine, but I still don't like this idea," Haruka grumbled.

"I understand," Minako replied, smiling when Haruka looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Artemis can tell you, it took him at least five months to convince me that I should get involved in crime fighting."

"I told you it was to draw the Negaverse out," Artemis protested.

"Whatever furball."

"Alright, everyone is going to patrol for three hours in rotation," Usagi said, surprising the others. "I'll take first shift, then Ami, and Makoto, with Rei on last watch. Minako will lead off tomorrow."

"What about last watch?" Haruka demanded suspiciously. "There are only three of us left."

"Find Setsuna and she can have it," Usagi replied airily. "If not, then stand four hour watches. Gotta go, Bye." Jumping to her feet and ran out of the room with Luna close on her heals. She could be heard giggling as she left.

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Later That Night Around 2:32 a.m.

A lone man was walking to his car in the parking garage, carrying several bags from his shopping. He appeared to be in his mid to late thirties with short hair and a bearing that could only be described as military. The clothes he wore were the kind that don't wrinkle very easily, and appeared slightly out of date, as if he couldn't be bothered to keep up with the latest trends.

He placed the bags in the trunk, went to the passenger door, then swore realizing what he was doing and walked back around to the driver's side complaining about people who drive on the wrong side of the road. He opened the door then stopped when he felt an all too familiar tingling sensation, looking into the shadows near the exit of the garage. While he watched, another man stepped into the light from the security lamps.

"Donovan Lader, I presume." the man said sardonically, his accent marking him as coming from the southern part of the United States. He was short, with shoulder length black hair tied into a long braid, and green eyes. He wore a gray silk shirt, black pants, and a brown, duster style leather jacket. In his hands, he carried a cavalry saber with a gray tassel hanging from the hilt.

"And you are?" Donovan asked guardedly.

"Daryl Thorne." Daryl replied with a mocking bow.

"Lets get this over with." Donovan sighed as he drew his cutlass.

"Yes, lets." Daryl agreed with a sly smile.

As the two men moved closer together, Daryl removed his jacket and stared at the other man. Both of them were sizing each other up, figuring what tactic to use.

Out of complete boredom of waiting, Daryl started in with a swinging attack. The attack was easily blocked by Donovan's cutlass. Their attacks, blocks, and dodges were leaving the surrounding vehicles with puncture marks, slices down the side, broken windows, and other related damages.

During one attack, Daryl was able to knock Donovan's cutlass from his hand, and the sword landed under a car. Daryl thinking that the fight was over, started to swing down to cut off Donovan's head, but missed because Donovan ducked under the attack and rolled away. When Daryl turned around to see where Donovan had gone, he saw that Donovan had just retrieved his sword. Daryl growled in frustration.

When Donovan got back up, they both started attacking each other again. As he carried on, Daryl suddenly realized that the fight was now leading toward his own death. After destroying several more vehicles, hitting their swords in the garage supports, causing several gouges in them, and setting off the sprinkler system, Donovan had Daryl pinned up against a support. Daryl brought his sword up to block Donovan's attack, but watched in horror as Donovan swung and knocked Daryl's sword out of his grasp. It landed a few feet from his hand.

"You were too cocky there, Thorne." Donovan said with a smile as he brought his sword up to take Daryl's head.

"I don't think so. I was only setting you up for your downfall." Daryllaughed, smiling as he cupped his hands in front of his chest.

"What are you doing?" Donovan asked suspiciously.

"This," Daryl said as he pointed cupped his hands toward Donovan saw a ball of energy form in front of the hands. Then the ball of energy flew from Daryl's hands and hit Donovan squarely in the chest, knocking Donovan into the air. He flew backwards a few feet and land on his back with his sword a few feet away from

him.

Donovan felt like all of his strength had left him. He felt tired and weak and could barely move at all. He saw Daryl stand up and walk over to pick his sword up and then start to walk towards him. Donovan started to crawl to his own sword, but Daryl made his way over to it and kicked his sword out of his reach, and saw Donovan looking up at him.

"What did you do?" groaned Donovan.

"Sapped some of your strength and then hit you with an impact beam. Minor stuff to bring you down." replied Daryl

"Why?"

"That is for me to know and you to never figure out. For my reasons, I would have to say, There can be only one." said Daryl as he brought his sword down and cut off Donovan's head.

Just when the head rolled away from the body, Daryl stood up to await for the Quickening. Lightning like energy formed around Donovan's body and started arcing toward Daryl. When the lightning came upon him, he tensed up as the Quickening came upon him. The energy from the Quickening started to go into the surrounding cars and started them up. Headlights came on, horns were going off, the cars started to move forward some, hoods were being blown off the cars, and windows were blowing apart.

When the Quickening ended, Daryl went down on one knee as he recovered his breath, then he heard footsteps approaching. He quickly stood up, grabbed his sword, and concentrated on his gate crystal for a moment to form a portal. When the portal formed, he ran into it, closing the portal after him moments before the other person arrived.

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As Thorne's gate collapsed, Kevin O'Connell stepped out of the shadows and shook his head in surprise. Walking over to the place where the gate had been moments before.

"Where the hell did you get powers like that Thorne?" He muttered to the empty space, then looked toward the still form in the parking structure. "Poor bastard." With a sigh, he turned and walked toward the alley next to the building.

Above him on the roof of a nearby building, Sailor Jupiter watched wondering what this man had to do with the killings. Realising that she couldn't do anything for the man in the garage, she decide to follow this other one. Hopping from building to building, she smiled as he walked casually from the alley down the street into another alley, distancing himself from the murder scene. "Cool customer," she laughed to herself as she followed.

He followed several alleys, changing direction often, until he came out in the middle of a crowded street and disappeared. Sailor Jupiter swore and searched the crowd, trying to find him. When he finally emerged, he no longer wore the overcoat or the hat, so she barely recognised him. It was only when he ducked into another alley that she realised it was him.

"Shit..." she muttered jumping from rooftop to rooftop, hoping he hadn't disappeared. When she glanced down into the alley though, he was looking straight at her. She stared at him in shock until he waved at her, then she ducked behind the parapet. She heard him chuckle, then silence. When she looked again, he was gone. Running to the other edges of the roof she looked for him, but with no success. With a sigh, she returned to her patrol which was quiet until she turned over to Sailor Mars.

"Do you think he was involved?" Mars asked after she had told her about the murder. "Did you see him?"

"I saw him, but I don't think he had anything to do with it," Jupiter replied, her voice showing her confusion. "From what I saw he got there after the guy was dead. Besides, he wasn't carrying to cut the guy's head off."

"Oh well, maybe he works for the police."

Jupiter nodded and left her to the patrol. Once she was home, she transformed out of her uniform and took a quick shower. After making a cup of cocoa, she sat on the couch, deep in thought. Ten minutes later she smiled.

"It couldn't have been Kevin," she muttered, smiling. "That guy just looked like him." That decided, she came to her feet and went to bed, falling asleep as her head hit the pillow.

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Daryl stepped out of the portal in a chamber that looked like it was in a medieval castle. He looked around and smiled at the man on the throne.

"What do you have to report." Damian growled sternly.

"My mission was a success, I removed Donovan Lader, and gathered energy for the Negaverse." Daryl replied with a smirk.

"Good."

"What is my next mission?"

"I want you to go back to Tokyo. Juuban district this time. There you will find an antique dealer. He is your next target."

"Who is he?"

"Scott Schwartzstern, another friend of our enemy. Take great care though, he is highly skilled."

"I can't fail." Daryl laughed as he turned and walked out of the room. The man on the throne smiled darkly after Daryl left.

"You will get yours soon enough, Drakkar," Damian laughed. "Don't worry, you will get yours."

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To be continued...


	3. Misunderstandings II

1Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

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Chapter Two - Misunderstanding part II

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"Today in the Rapungi district, yet another in the Oni murders has occurred, " The morning news commentator announced as a news bulletin interupted the normal TV schedule. "As little is known of this crime as all similar cases and there is no mark on the body. The victim, a senior American Naval NCO was slain in grizzly fashion while on liberty from his post at Yokosuka Naval Station. His decapitated body was found a few feet from his car, while his head was found several meters away, in the parking structure of his hotel. The US ambassador has refused comment on this, the latest of these bizarre slayings. The Police have no leads and are baffled by the seeming randomness of the killings. The Tokyo Police are asking that anyone who may have information regarding these killings contact the police in their area. This station will keep its viewers apprised of any further developments in this breaking news story. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming."

"EWWWWW, Gross!!!!" Chibi-Usa gagged slightly as the images of the blood splattered garage and sheet covered body flashed across the screen before being replaced by the anime she had just started watching returned to the screen further along than when the news bulletin started.

"Chibi-Usa-Chan how many times do I have to remind you that we have to get this project finished soon?" Hotaru muttered."Honestly, you're acting more and more like Usagi every day."

"I do not, you take that back Hotaru!!" Chibi-Usa yelled as she walked back over to the computer desk where Hotaru was sitting. Grumbling she sat down and picked up the intricately detailed scabbard lying on the table.

"Well, what do we have on the scabbard, Hotaru?" she murmured as she looked at the cover page that Hotaru had just set up on the computer.

"What we have is a scabbard that belonged to one of Totoyama Hideyoshi's Generals over 400 years ago, and was given to his youngest son before the battle of Sekigahara in which the general died." Hotaru read, "It was passed down in the son's family for seven generations until the last heir of that line died leaving it to his most faithful student and friend. It had been passed down until 1912 when the last of that line had willed it to the great-grandfather of the shopkeeper's friend."

"So what we have here is a really old sword thingy that people have been giving to their kids because they didn't want it anymore?" Chibi-Usa asked, a little confused.

Hotaru sweated a little at that, "More or less, but don't forget that Schwartzster-san said we would be getting more information from his friend this afternoon around three."

Chibi-Usa glanced at her watch and eeped in alarm "Hotaru we have to hurry, it's 2:35 already!"

At this pronouncement, Hotaru shrieked, grabbed her notebook and dashed out of the apartment. "We are so LATE!!" she yelled as she shut the door.

Chibi-Usa gathered her school bag, and the scabbard, then giggled when she saw Botaru's key chain lying on the end table in the living room. Grabbing the keys, she locked the door and then ran after her friend. When she caught up with Hotaru she shook the keys in her friends face laughing at the blush on her cheeks.

"Now who's acting like Usagi, ehh Hotaru?" Chibi-Usa giggled as her friend grabbed her keys, blushing hotter.

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Scott was sweeping the front walk of his shop wondering where Kevin was. Glancing at his watch, he realized that his friend should have been there half an hour ago. Taking the broom to the closet, he was on his way back to the office to check his answering machine, when he felt that familiar jangling of his nerves that announced the presence of another of his kind.

He was returning to the front of the shop when he noticed that the shadow in the doorway was too short to be his friend. Stifling the comment on punctuality he had been about to make, he altered his course to bring him close to the racks of swords in the middle of the room, and forced a smile.

"Can I help you sir?" he asked politely wondering why the man was just standing in the doorway.

The man chuckled maniacally, as if Scott had just said the funniest thing he had ever heard."Help me?" the man laughed."Like you helped Amanda perhaps? What did she ever do to you to make you kill her in that way? She hadn't even taken a head in two hundred years!" Having said this the man drew a rapier from his dark green overcoat.

Scott drew his Katana from it's scabbard on the nearest rack just in time to parry the cut aimed at his throat, then did a backward dive roll to get some distance between them. The man kept coming, driving Scott back into the rear storeroom and when Scott found himself backed into the door the man hit him with a snap kick, knocking him through the door. Shaking his head clear the fog from it, Scott merely defended himself for a few more minutes to get his bearings back. Finally, heartily tired of the mans constant ravings, he dodged further out the man's way to get some breathing room.

"I don't know what you think I've done, nor do I really care." he shouted back at the man a trifle breathlessly. "What I can tell you is that I have never heard of you, whoever the hell you are, or this Amanda you keep raving on about. If you plan to kill me, don't you think you should at least tell me who you are and why you want me dead?"

"Very well then demon, I shall tell you of your crimes." the man ground out."Know this, I am called Austin Derrindelle, and two nights ago I came to my home to find my wife, Amanda, lying in her own blood, with a sigil burned into her forehead. By her hand I found your name written in her own blood. She had not even been killed cleanly. You slowly crippled and brutalized her until until she couldn't bear anymore. Then you killed her. For this evil deed shall you die, to avenge my love's pain and suffering."

Scott grew even more bewildered as Derrindelle continued with his story until as he finished Scott could only stare at him in disbelief.

"You mean to tell me that you intend to kill me because your wife died, all be it rather gruesomely, and my name was written in her blood?" Scott said perplexed. "Has it ever occurred to you that it might have been someone trying to set me up by writing my name there?" he demanded angrily.

Upon hearing this denial Derrindelle roared like a wounded lion and charged Scott driving him further down the alley.

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Hotaru and Chibi-Usa were walking now, Chibi-Usa holding an ice-cream cone with two scoops of blue colored ice cream on it. Hotaru was muttering darkly about being late and ice cream until finally she couldn't stand watching Chibi-Usa eat peacefully any longer.

"I told you to hurry up or we would be late, " Hotaru said disgustedly. But did you listen? No! You had to spend twenty minutes in an ICE CREAM SHOP. Honestly Chibi-Usa-chan you really are becoming more and more like Usagi these days."

"You take that back Hotaru, you were the one who wanted to get something cool after running half a mile." Chibi-Usa growled back. "Besides Usagi doesn't even like bubble gum ice cream, she says it tastes wrong." she added needlessly.

Chibi-Usa finished her ice cream and then ran to catch up with Hotaru who had run ahead after making her comment. As they turned the corner the shop came into view.

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Scott had been driven three blocks from his shop before he could return to the offensive.He finally got tired of simply blocking Derrindelle's strikes and drove the man back for about fifty feet.It wasn't long before he knocked Derrindelle's sword from his hand and stopped again.

"For the last time Mr. Derrindelle, until you showed up, I had never heard of your wife. I hadn't even heard of you before you came here, nor have I taken anyone's head in the last two hundred years." Scott growled out impatiently. "What do you say we stop this idiocy, and I'll help you look for the man who did this."He gasped a little winded from the nearly 45 minutes of fighting they had been doing.

Austin just stood looking confused and muttering to himself. Seeing that he wasn't going to attack soon Scott lowered his sword even more. Then moving a little away from the still muttering maniac he propped himself against the wall with on hand on his knee. As he leaned back, the front of his shirt, which had been cut by a near miss, fell open and the medallion he had worn for the last 2000 years fell out and the sigil on it glimmered in the sunlight.

The only warning that Scott received was the hoarseness of Derrindelle's breathing before the mad man's sword came whistling through the space formally occupied by Scott's neck.

"You almost convinced me of your innocence friend but that medallion bears the sigil I found burned into my love's forehead when I found her. For this too you shall die then DEMON!"

Blocking the mad man's sword yet again, Scott staggered back muttering about near-sighted idiocy.

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Hotaru and Chibi-Usa stood in shock at what they had just heard.They had almost come to the door of the shop when they had heard the shriek of metal on metal, and someone shouting something about demons. With a horrified look at each other they ran down the alley following the sounds of fighting. They were getting very close to the source when Chibi-Usa suddenly slowed looking a little worried.

"Don't you think we should call the others and wait for backup?" she whispered to her friend, who had stopped with her."I mean what if we can't handle this demon oroneofusgetshurtor...?"

"You know Chibi-chan, you are really starting to remind me of Usagi now." Hotaru interrupted, annoyed by the whiny note in the girl's voice. "You go ahead and call them then wait for backup, and I'll go stop the Demon." Hotaru then continued toward the sounds, which had gotten a little further away.

"I...But...Hotaru wait for me!" Chibi-Usa squealed as she ran to catch up with the other girl. They moved further down the alley until they reached a small side street and then stopped in horror at what they saw.

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Scott was getting tired after the last 25 minutes of fighting, and the other man's hoarse gasps were roaring in his ear as he set his teeth. Then he drove the man back twenty feet, and changed his target from the man to his sword. As he drove Derrindelle even further back down the side street he realized he was about half a mile from his shop, and after repeated strikes on the man's sword, Schwartzstern heard a tell tale change in the clash of the swords, then grimly raising his Katana one last time, he cut down, removing the last nine inches from the end of Derrindelle's blade. At the protesting shriek of his sword Derrindelle gaped at the blade of his sword in shock.

"For the last time, Derrindelle, " Scott shouted to get his opponents attention, "I have no idea who killed your wife, nor do I truly care any more. If you don't stop this insanity here and now you will die here."

Derrindelle's only response was a roar, followed by a wild charge. Blocking the ferocious attack, Scott set his mouth into a grim line.

"There can be only one." he muttered in disgust. Then, parrying Derrindelle's wild swing, Schwartzstern turned his Katana. Suddenly, to Derrindelle's horror, the last 26 inches of his swords exploded into fragments, and Schwartzstern smoothly removed the man's head on the backstroke.

Then the Quickening took him.

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Hotaru stared, horrified at what she had just seen. When she and Chibi-Usa had arrived on the scene they had been shocked to silence by the sight of Mr. Schwartzstern, the young owner of the antique shop they had been on their way to see, fighting a crazed looking man with a sword. Mr. Schwartzstern was calmly parrying every attack the apparent lunatic made with no effort at all.They then noticed a slight shift in the shopkeepers attacks shortly after they arrived, but they were as surprised as his opponent when he suddenly removed the last few inches from the poor man's sword. As the man stared at his smaller sword, the antique dealer had spoken to him angrily as if trying to change the man's mind about something. However, what he was saying only seemed to anger the man more, resulting finally in the man attacking with the shortened remnants of his sword.

Mr. Schwartzstern had parried the man's attack then in a blinding flash of speed had apparently shattered the other man's sword. Then on his return stroke the man's head had gone flying a meter away. Chibi-Usa was still over by a trashcan losing her lunch over that. Then the really strange part had started. A strange white mist had formed around the dead body and severed head.

As the haze touched Mr. Schwartzstern, he stiffened and the mist vanished, as absorbed. Then something like lightning had erupted from his body and the dead man, and he shook as if he were being electrocuted. Arcs of power were everywhere, scorching the walls and destroying every street lamp in sight. Mr. Schwartzstern screamed, then, as quickly as it appeared, the lightning vanished leaving the antique dealer to fall to his knees looking exhausted.

Hotaru slipped over to where Chibi-Usa was finally getting control of her stomach again. Chibi-Usa looked up as she approached her and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Well, Hotaru I guess it's up to us now, "she muttered smiling sickly at her friend. "Let's try not to get killed, okay?"

Chibi-Usa and Hotaru transformed and prepared to fight. Then, Sailor Chibi-Moon stepped into the side street as the man finally struggled to his feet.

"Hold it right their Nega-creep, " Sailor Chibi-Moon yelled. "I am Sailor Chibi-Moon, and on behalf of the moon, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil. And the means you." She posed dramatically only hearing the giggles behind her once her speech was finished.

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Scott stared in surprise at the two Senshi in front of him, wondering what was going on. One minute the quickening was receding, the next he was being confronted by a short, irate little girl with pink hair, dressed in a Senshi uniform. The second girl was very familiar somehow. The problem was it seemed that the little one thought he was from the Negaverse. Turning to the one who had spoken, he glared at the insult.

"I don't know who you are, but I am not in the mood to be insulted by little girls playing dress up. So if you don't mind, I'll be leaving now." He growled, walking toward the other end of the street where the opening to another alley could be seen.

Seeing the man walking away and ignoring them, Sailor Saturn summoned the Silence Glaive, and started walking toward him. Scott stopped moving when he saw the second girl apparently summon a rather wicked looking pole arm from thin air. As he finally recognized who the girl was, she began speaking.

"For betraying the trust of others, and murdering innocents I, Sailor Saturn, the Senshi of Silence shall punish you." Having said this she swung the weapon at Scott's head.

Scott was stunned. "Are they all back now? They must be if she's here."His eyes refocused suddenly as he caught the glint of the sun off metal from the corner of his eye. Ducking, he rolled away coming to his feet out of the pole arm's range.

"Watch where you swing that thing, Talia." Scott yelled as he came to his feet. "You could hurt somebody." He then ran the remaining 20 feet to the open alleyway and down the alley. "Got to get away, must not hurt those two." he muttered to himself a he ran down the alley.

Sailor Saturn stared after him blankly for a few seconds. "How...?" she muttered to herself then swore because he was getting away. "Idiot, that was the point of the attack, to hurt HIM!" She then started chasing him, with Chibi-Moon not far behind.

Scott sent his sword into subspace, then made several random turns in an attempt to lose the two Senshi, but he couldn't seem to shake them from his trail. That was when his luck ran out again. He rounded a corner looking behind him and ran through a cloud of steam from a vent, straight into a brick wall. Literally. He got up and dusted himself off as he heard running steps come up behind him. He turned to meet the two Senshi as they ran around the corner. He tried to reason with them again.

"I don't know why you're after me Talia, but I can tell you I'm not from the Negaverse, " he began. "You see I'm..."

"Silence Negaverse scum, " Saturn interrupted. "You have killed at least five innocent people in cold blood for their life energies. This will be stopped now."

Having said this, Sailor Saturn attempted a number of overhand strikes, missing repeatedly. In the background she could hear Sailor Chibi-Moon giggling. Enraged beyond thought she charged at the man, attempting to impale him with the Silence Glaive.

As the blade neared him, Scott dodged to the side and grabbed the shaft of the pilearm just under the blade.Using Sailor Saturn's momentum, he lifted her off her feet, carrying her through an arc which ended with her landing, screaming, in a dumpster belonging to the restaurant backing onto this alley.

Feeling an unfamiliar tingling at the back of his neck, Scott dropped and rolled as a blue-white energy beam hit the wall at the level of his chest. Turning as the beam dissipated, he saw that it had from the pink haired Senshi that he didn't recognize. With a disgusted shrug he drew his sword and walked toward the girl.

Sailor Chibi-Moon shrieked as the man approached her with his sword drawn, then suddenly stopped as she slumped to the ground, unconscious from the blow on her head from the sword's pommel. In the distance he heard sirens approaching. He turned back to the dumpster and yelled to girl he could hear struggling to get out.

"Talia, if you don't want to spend a very uncomfortable evening answering questions, I suggest you get your unconscious friend here and get home, " he shouted."Don't worry about the Silence Glaive, I'll take care of it and you can get it back later at 'The Lost World of Wonders' on Nakamura Street. I'll see you later there." This said he walked out of the alley and headed back to his shop.

Hotaru climbed out of the dumpster covered in rotting food a few minutes later just as Chibi-Usa woke up.As she changed back, the slime settled into her school uniform. Standing up, Chibi-Usa changed back, then wrinkled her nose as Hotaru approached.

"Yuck, Hotaru, you smell awful, " she said holding her nose. "Why didn't you wait to change until after you were out of the dumpster."

"I did, smart-alec, it didn't go away with the other stuff, " Hotaru grumbled. "I think we had better go tell the others what's going on. Besides, we're going to need a lot of help if we're going to get the Silence Glaive back, " she said mumbling the last part in self-disgust.

"WHAT? You mean he took it with him?" Chibi-Usa shrieked. "But, I thought no one from the Negaverse could touch the talismans, " she said in confusion as they walked down the side street away from the sound of the sirens now blocks behind them.

"That's right, Chibi-Usa-chan, no one from the Negaverse can, " Hotaru said as she turned at the gate to the Hikawa shrine. But this wouldn't be the first time they used humans as tools to collect energy. We MUST get the others, and stop him before he can get in contact with his masters, " she added.

They climbed the steps hurriedly, hoping that Rei was home.

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Scott walked back in to the shop through the shattered back door just as his answering machine hung up. Grumbling about impossible timing, he hit the button on the machine for playback.

"Scott, this is Kevin. Sorry about the time, but I'm going to be a bit late for that meeting we discussed earlier, " the voice said. "Thorne is back in town from wherever he vanished to, so I'm going to try and track him down, see if I can get some info on Rochefort's whereabouts. If those students we were talking about get there before I do, entertain them with some story from the last time I was in Japan. Or you could show them some of the stuff I sent you by courier. Well talk to you later my friend, " then the machine cut off. There was another call but the caller hung up on the machine.

Grumbling about unreliable friends, Scott glanced up at the clock as he entered the shop, only now noticing that the two girls were half an hour late already. With a little concern he went to the front door to see if there were any notes on the door, but there were none. Shrugging philosophically, he walked back into the shop and started cleaning.

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Chibi-Usa ran into the courtyard of the Hikawa shrine, and started looking for Rei, as Hotaru trudged up the stairs behind her holding her school uniform as far away from herself as she could. When she reached the top, Phobos and Deimos flew from the tree they were in and went toward the back of the shrine. Following them, Hotaru called to get Chibi-Usa's attention. As they came around the back of the shrine, they saw Rei raking leaves. Rei stopped as the two girls came around the office, then stared at the miserable young girls.

"What happened to you Hotaru, " she gasped. "You look like you were dumped into a trash heap."

Chibi-Usa collapsed into a giggle fit rolling on the ground, as Hotaru blushed hotly. After a few minutes, Chibi-Usa regained control and glanced apologetically at her friend.

"That probably because she did Rei, " she said.

"Who did that to you, Hotaru, " Rei muttered darkly, her expression promising great pain for the culprit.

Chibi-Usa glanced quickly at her friend then said, "It was the Beheader, Rei. We actually know who he is. But he's a really good fighter and we got beat up."

As Rei got ready to yell at them Hotaru spoke up in a small voice. "He also took the Silence Glaive." She muttered.

Rei stopped with a shocked expression on her face. "What?" she gasped. "We had better call the others to an emergency meeting."

As Rei went to start calling, Hotaru stopped her.

"Would you please have Michiru-mama bring me some new clothes when she comes, Rei, " she asked pathetically. "I'll be taking a REALLY long shower." This said she walked into the shrine and went into the bathroom.

Rei shook her head in sympathy, then went to start calling the others.

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After he finished sweeping up the broken glass Scott went into the storeroom and opened the package that had arrived earlier that day. In it were the extended history of ownership forms that Kevin had promised and a few newspaper articles. On top were some articles about something called "The Oni Murders", the last was simply a very grainy photograph showing what appeared to be ten figures in rather short skirts, scattering. The writing on the last said, "another photo for your strangeness collection, Kevin"

Looking closely at the figures Scott muttered to himself, "So they ARE all back. I wonder if she even remembers me." Placing the clipping on his desk, he walked up the stairs to the roof, and gazed into the distance as if looking for an answer.

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A man in a green overcoat, with short brown hair glanced across the rooftops at the man staring into the distance. His face showed contempt for the man as well as a twisted humor.

"So the great Scott Schwartzstern I was warned of is merely a dreaming shopkeeper, " Daryl Thorne muttered to himself. "Oh, well if I must attack the man, at least he might beg for mercy like that woman. And the look on her man's face when he found her was priceless. Too bad he went so quickly. I wonder what about that symbol Damian gave me was so damaging to Schwartzstern's image though. Maybe he'll tell me before I kill him." Chuckling to himself he walked down the storefronts looking in every so often.

He didn't notice the tall, auburn haired man in a black duster following him at a discrete distance. Or the dark look the man cast him as he realized his quarries next target.

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To Be Continued


	4. Misunderstandings III

1Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

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Chapter Three - Misunderstanding part III

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It was a quiet afternoon in the apartment that Haruka and Michiru shared with Setsuna and Hotaru. Setsuna had removed herself from the time stream for some reason, and Hotaru was out with Chibi-Usa talking to an antique dealer about a history project. So they were enjoying the afternoon to themselves. Michiru was sitting at one end of the couch with Haruka laying down on the same couch with her head on Michiru's lap watching a romantic movie. They were enjoying the scene that was on the television when the phone rang and Haruka reluctantly got up and went to answer the phone.

"Moshi Moshi?" Haruka said.

"Haruka?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Rei?"

"Yes."

"What can I do for you?"

"There is going to be an emergency Sailor meeting here at the temple."

"Why?"

"Hotaru and Chibi-Usa had a confrontation with the Beheader. They're here now while we're waiting for the others."

"We'll be there soon then."

"See you then. Oh, and bring a change of clothes for Hotaru. She needs it."

"Okay, why?"

"Tell you when you get here." said Rei as they then said their good-byes and hung up the phone. Haruka then went over to Michiru and informed her of what was going on and then left to go to the temple.

When they got to the Hikawa shrine, they saw that all the inner Senshi were already there waiting for them. Michiru handed Rei Hotaru's clothing and Rei went to give Hotaru her clothes in the bathroom. They all waited around ten minutes for Rei and Hotaru to return, when they did, they started talking.

"So what is going on?" asked Haruka.

"Chibi-Usa and Hotaru saw who the Beheader is. But they weren't smart enough to call for help when they confronted him." said Usagi

"Hey, he was about to leave, we had to stop him." replied Chibi-Usa trying to defend herself.

"So who is the Beheader?" asked Makoto

"The antique dealer." replied Hotaru quietly

"What!" exclaimed everyone except Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. Then everyone started shooting out questions about the antique dealer, the safety of the two girls, and what they want to do to the antique dealer when Ami said out loud for the group to hear.

"Lets get all of what happened from Chibi-Usa and Hotaru before we jump to conclusions and point out what the problems in what they did or did not do."

"Sorry. Tell your story to everyone." said Usagi .

"Hotaru and I were going to see the antique dealer to see his friend who was coming to give us more information about the topic we are working on. Well, when we were heading to his shop, when we heard a fight and the sound of metal clanging together. I guess our curiosity got to the both of us and we decided to see what was going on. We peered around the corner and saw the antique dealer fighting with someone else with swords.

"We were both too far away to hear what they were saying, but it looked like they were arguing over something. The other guy more seemed to be the one arguing more than the antique dealer. The antique dealer broke the other man's sword and said something to him, but the other guy got madder and swung at the antique dealer with his broken sword. Then the antique dealer swung his sword, shattered the remaining part of the other guy's sword and cut the other man's head off. We were both shocked when we saw that, but we were even more shocked when we saw a white haze form around the dead guys body and head towards the antique dealer.

"Once the white mist came into contact with the antique dealer, he stiffened and the mist absorbed into him. Then it looked like wind was blowing around him as this 'lightning' came from out of nowhere and surrounded his body. The lightning went all over the place, destroying whatever it touched. It looked like he was screaming in pain and shaking quite a bit. When the lightning disappeared, he dropped to his knees and looked really exhausted. That was when we decided to change and confront him. When we stopped him, he looked very surprised to see us." said Chibi-Usa when Hotaru interrupted saying.

"I think he was more surprised to see me then you. He called me by my OLD name, like he knew me in the Silver Millennium."

"I guess so. Well, we attacked him and he ran to a dead end alley. Hotaru attacked him using the Silence Glaive, but he was dodging all her swings, and when she charged at him with the Glaive, he grabbed it and used it to toss her into a nearby dumpster. Hotaru lost her grip on the Glaive when she was tossed, so he was holding it when I tried to get him by trying to blast him. He ducked under my blast like he knew it was coming and drew his sword out. He came up to me and knocked me out cold." said Chibi-Usa.

"When I was coming out of the dumpster, he called out to me that if I wanted my Silence Glaive back, I should go to his shop. I saw him walking out of the alley with my Glaive and his sword. I got out of the dumpster and transformed because the police were coming. I helped Chibi-Usa up and we disappeared from the alley as quick as we could and came straight here. That is what happened." concluded Hotaru.

"Usagi is right. You know who the guy is, you should have gotten our help before you took him on. You guys are lucky you only got away with only a few bruises." said Rei.

"Sorry." said Chibi-Usa and Hotaru quietly.

"Well, now you know better." said Rei to the two girls, and then to the rest of the group, "Now the question is, what are we going to do about this Antique Dealer. We can't go to the police because he's probably from the Negaverse. So what are we going to do?"

"I say we go fight him and kick his Negaverse butt." commented Makoto.

"I agree. He hurt Hotaru, he needs to pay." said Haruka angrily.

"But we need to plan carefully. He gets energy from killing people, so we need to be careful on how we face him." said Michiru.

They planned on how to challenge the antique dealer in the best and safest way that they could come up with. They tried the deep aqua mirror for answers, but the mirror revealed nothing that could help them. It simply stayed blank. They agreed that they had to stop him as soon as possible and that they had better do it that evening. The plan was that they should capture him, then force him to tell them the Negaverse's plans. They decided to attack in small groups, and that of all of them, Makoto, Haruka, and Rei would be the first ones to go in. They knew that they had to start by surprising him and catching him off guard. When they were about to leave, Hotaru brought one last item to their attention.

"Wait." said Hotaru. "He gave us some coins. They could be from the Negaverse."

"Do you have one of them?" asked Ami.

"Yes. Here it is." said Hotaru handing over her coin to Ami.

Ami set the coin on the table and pulled out her computer from subspace and started scanning the coin. The others waited quietly until she was done. When the scan was done, Ami's eyes widened in surprise and she whistled as she read the results.

"I can find no trace of Negaverse energy in the coin. In fact, it's about 80 pure gold, and around a thousand years old. At present rate, its worth about 500,000 yen."

"What!" exclaimed everyone.

"What he gave them is a very old and rare gold coin." said Ami putting away her computer and giving the coin back to Hotaru.

"So, any trace of Negaverse energy in it?" asked Minako

"No, none." replied Ami.

"Well Hotaru, you have a small fortune in that coin then. You better take care of it." said Michiru to Hotaru while in the background they could hear Usagi trying to persuade Chibi-Usa to give her the coin she had. After they got Usagi to stop pestering Chibi-Usa, they started off to the antique shop to confront the antique dealer.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x AT THE ANTIQUE SHOP DURING THE MEETING

Scott came into his shop from the roof after he was thinking about confrontation with Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi-Moon. He looked at the Silence Glaive on a nearby table and went to a phone. When he got to it, he picked it up and dialed his friend Kevin's number, but there was no answer. He gave up after a minute and hung up the phone. He then sat on a bench stool looking at the Silence Glaive thinking:

"Now what am I going to do about you. I know Talia will come looking for you. Might as well get you presentable." So he grabbed his polishing kit and started to clean the Glaive. After he was done polishing the Glaive, he set it in a display case that it fit into and set it out in the main display area of his shop, to wait for Talia and the others to arrive to claim it. He then went back to the storeroom to look at records and bills and wait for the Sailor Senshi to arrive.

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LATER THAT EVENING IN FRONT OF THE SHOP

The Senshi arrived on the roof of a shop across the street from the Antique shop to see if anything was out of the ordinary in the area. When they didn't see anything odd, they had Mercury start scanning the area. She pulled out her computer and popped on her visor and started scanning the shop and surrounding area. When she got done scanning, she told the others what she found.

"There are three Silver Millennium energy signatures coming from inside the shop. Two are from items and the third is from a person. Another energy signature on the roof of the building to the right is also a person, but this person has Negaverse energy all over them and another, unknown energy pattern. The person in the shop also has that unknown energy pattern coming from them, but it is much stronger. The person on the roof seems to be making their way to the Antique shop, but at a very slow, almost careful pace, as if they were trying to hide." Sailor Mercury announced.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Sailor Uranus.

"I suggest that we wait and see what's going to happen, then we go kick some Negaverse butt." suggested Sailor Jupiter.

"I'm for that." said Sailor Venus. So they waited for events to unfold before they entered the situation.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

INSIDE THE SHOP AT THAT MOMENT

Scott was in the back room going over that months bills when he felt another immortal approaching. He grabbed his sword and started looking around. He started in the shop room and slowly made his way to the main display room of his shop.After a few minutes of looking around but not finding anything, he still felt the presence of another immortal.

"Ziggy, is that you?" called out Scott.

Suddenly, Scott heard glass breaking above him and looked up seein someone coming through the skylight as he tolled away. Scott got into a defensive crouch as the man landed. His uninvited guest brushed the glass off of himself then stood up and faced Scott with his own sword at the ready.

"Scott Schwartzstern, I presume." said the man with a small smile.

"Yes. And who might you be?" asked Scott still on the defensive.

"Daryl Thorne." stated Daryl.

Scott saw that the man across from him was similar to him in appearance. With this final clue he figured that Daryl Thorne was the man that Austin Derrindelle had been after.

"Were you the one that killed Amanda Derrindelle?" asked Scott.

"Yes." grunted Thorne.

"Why?"

"She was an obstacle for a plan and had to be eliminated."

"You're lying. Why?"

"The Boss doesn't want you to know and be in the way. So I'm supposed to take you out."

"Then I guess I got no choice but to fight, huh?"

"Nope."

After Daryl said that, they both charged each other and the clash of swords file the night as they started fighting. Daryl was knocking over display cases to get at Scott, who was using them to keep Daryl at a distance. Their swords met each other in sprays of sparks several times and more display cases were destroyed, but the fight continued.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

OUTSIDE, SHORTLY BEFORE DARYL ENTERED THE SHOP

"The man on the roof is moving faster now." blurted Sailor Mercury, shocked at the speed. She then gasped "He just dove in through the skylight."

"I wonder what's going on in there?" asked Sailor Mars.

"The only thing we can do is wait and see wat happens next." replied Sailor Uranus, slightly baffled at this turn of events.

Most of the Sailor Senshi were waiting by the edge on the roof trying to see what was happening in the shop, while Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi-Moon, and Sailor Saturn slept nearby. Sailor Mercury continued to scan the inside of the shop while they waited. In a few minutes, they could hear the sound of fighting, clanging of metal, and breaking glass.

"They appear to be fighting each other." said Sailor Mercury.

"Should we go in?" asked Sailor Venus.

"I say we just wait for a moment before we do. If one kills the other, then I say we go on in." said Sailor Jupiter.

"Agreed." they all said.

Just then, Sailor Mercury's computer started to beep. She looked down to see what was up, and what the computer showed her,surprised her. The computer told her that a third person was approaching, but it was what the computer told her about that person that surprised her.

"There's a third person approaching the shop from the street level. This person has a Silver Millennium energy signature and that unknown also. But the power level of this is person lower than the one in the shop, and higher than the one from the roof. The person's destination seems to be the Antique shop." said Sailor Mercury to everyone.

All the Senshi that were awake looked down over the edge of the roof and saw a man dressed all in black walking in the shadows on the sidewalk so they couldn't see his face clearly. He appeared to be in his late teens or early twenty's and had a fair build. Other than that, they couldn't see much else. Then the man stopped and looked in their direction and waved to them, then continued on his way.

"He saw us!" exclaimed Sailor Venus. "What are we going to do now?"

"Wait and see what he does. If they attack, we had better be ready for them." Sailor Uranus said.

"Right." Sailor Mars replied.

So they woke up the sleeping Senshi and continued to watch the mysterious man. They watched him walk up to the front of the shop and look in the display window and then walk around to the back of the shop.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

INSIDE THE SHOP

Both men stood facing each other as they were breathing heavily and sizing up there opponent. Daryl had a small smile to his face since he knew that his energy sapping blast would make Scott very weak and unable to defend himself. Scott was glaring at Daryl knowing that Daryl could never beat him in a fair fight, so he must be hiding something. So he tried to think of what trick Daryl could use that would help him win the fight. Scott decided to try and talk to him to delay whatever trick was planned, and to his boss's plan from him.

"So, why did you write my name in her blood?" asked Scott.

"You're an obstacle. You have to be eliminated." replied Daryl.

"Why?" Before Daryl could reply, they both felt a presence of another immortal and then that immortal stepped into the light.

"Because he wants to get at me. He is hunting down my friends and students." replied the new arrival.

"Drakkar." "Ziggy?" said Daryl and Scott.

"What are you doing here?" asked Daryl.

"I came on a head hunt." replied Drakkar as he took out his Ninja-to and faced Daryl.

"Ah, ah, ah. No two on one." said Daryl starting to look a little nervous.

"He's mine." said Drakkar turning to Scott.

Scott looked at him and sighed helplessly. "He's yours." said Scott, nodding then lowering his sword.

Just then, police car sirens could be heard approaching the area. Daryl knew he didn't stand a chance against both Schwartzstern and Drakkar, so he decided to make a run for it. Drakkar and Scott saw Daryl turn around and grab an item off a display case and throw it through a window then jump out the window and run down the street. Drakkar started after him. He jumped out the window, turned left, then reappeared in the window a moment later.

"It's good to see you again there, Scott. I'll be back later." laughed Drakkar then he ran after Thorne.

"Life never gets boring, with him around." Scott said, smiling as he replaced his sword in the display case and waited for the police to arrive.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

OUTSIDE A FEW MINUTES EARLIER

The Senshi were waiting on the roof and waiting for Sailor Mercury to tell them what the scans told her. Then they heard police sirens approaching and all that Mercury was able to tell them, was that there seemed to be a three-way face-off going on in the shop. They heard the sound of breaking glass, and the Senshi that were watching the shop saw something fly through the window. Then a man jumped out through the broken window and ran down the street with a sword in his hand. He kept glancing back as if he were really afraid of what was behind him.

Then a few second later, another man, who they recognized as the one that had waved at them, come out through the window, with a sword in his hand as well. He appeared to be following the first man, but then he stopped and went back to the broken window appearing to say something. Then he took off running after the first man.

"So what should we do now?" asked Sailor Moon.

"It appears that the police are arriving, so lets wait until they leave before we strike." said Sailor Jupiter.

"That would be a good idea." agreed Sailor Neptune.

So they waited.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

AFTER THE POLICE INVESTIGATION

It was now almost eleven at night and Scott was picking up what he could at the time. He had finished talking to the police investigator and gave him an edited version of what happened and who it was that broke into his shop. He was sweeping up some of the broken glass from the broken display cases when he heard the sound of glass being stepped on and he turned around to see a girl with long black hair in a red and white Sailor Fuku coming at him with a high kick.

Scott on instinct, used the broom to deflect the kick and then knocked her down by sweeping her feet out from under her. When she tried to get back up and attack again, Scott threw her against the wall knocking her out cold. He was about to check on her when he saw two more people coming in through the window. Both were dressed similar to the first one, but one was in green and white, while the other was in light blue and white with yellow accents, and they both seemed to want to attack him as well.

The rest of the Sailor Senshi made their way down to the street just in time to see Sailor Uranus get thrown out the window. They saw her get back up and run into the shop and then a few moments later, fly back out the window. This time she waited for the rest of the Senshi to catch up to her before she went back in. The first few Senshi that got into the shop saw that their easy assault was not so easy after all.

They saw Sailor Mars slumped against a wall unconscious, and Sailor Jupiter pinned up against a display case with the antique dealer holding her in an arm lock seeming to be in a little pain. Sailor Venus went over to check on Sailor Mars condition. Then Sailor Moon came in and started with her usual speech.

"I am Sailor Moon, I stand for love and justice. And we are here to take out low life's that kill people and take their energy, and in the name of the moon, I will punish murderers and that means you."

The man looked her with a questioning look then said "You sound just like Princess Serenity, you know."

That surprised all of the Senshi, but to their minds, it confirmed that he was from the Negaverse.

"You're from the Negaverse. Collecting energy by killing people, and the fact that you recognize her proves it." said Sailor Venus. She was a little surprised when she saw him get a angry look on his face as if they had insulted him when they said he was one of the enemy.

"I'm as much from the Negaverse as you are, Ruri." Scott grunted in a sarcastic tone.

"Why did you call me that?" Sailor Venus gasped.

"Because that is who you are, Ruri Cathal, princess of Venus." Scott replied.

"You know who we all are?" asked Sailor Neptune.

"All except the one calling herself Sailor Moon and the one with the pink hair." Scott muttered.

"You're from the Negaverse. We saw you kill a man and take his energy," said Sailor Chibi-Moon.

"He's telling the truth. He's not from the Negaverse." said Sailor Mercury walking up to the group surrounding him. The others stared at her in surprise, except for Sailor Uranus who watched the man carefully. She was the one who saw him pale as if he was seeing a ghost when he finally saw Sailor Mercury.

"What? How can that be?" the others asked Sailor Mercury.

"I scanned him. No trace of Negaverse energy in him, but the is a large amount of Silver Millennium energy and a unknown energy pattern" replied Sailor Mercury.

Uranus saw their quarry pale even more when he heard her say that.

"Sailor Moon." the man said suddenly, with a note of panic in his voice.

"Yes." replied Sailor Moon cautiously.

"You're the leader of this group, right?"

"Yeah."

"Since we are at a standstill here, I would recommend we make a deal here."

"What kind of a deal?"

"I'll release Natasha here if you promise that none of the others will attack me, so we can speak in a more civilized manner. Do we have a deal?"

Sailor Moon looked at the other Senshi that were around, and saw that Sailor Mars was now standing up, and then to Sailor Jupiter who was looking like she was trying to get out of the mans hold but couldn't, then up to the man. She made her decision and cautiously nodded her head.

"You have my word that we won't attack you until we heard what you have to say. Unless you start attacking us that is. Are we agreed?" She said ignoring the shocked stares she was getting from the other Senshi.

"If you or the others don't give me a reason to, I won't attack you either." Scott said nodding slightly.

"Agreed then." said Sailor Moon.

Scott quickly released the arm lock he had on Jupiter and took several steps away to give her some room then sat down in a nearby chair. Sailor Jupiter looked as if she wanted to try hit him again but a look from Sailor Moon made her calm down a little so she quickly went over an joined the other Senshi glaring at the shopkeeper. When Sailor Moon was sure that Jupiter was all right, she looked over at the antique dealer, then sat in a chair and indicated he should start talking.

He nodded then relaxed a little looking wary and very tired.

"Who are you?" asked Jupiter. "And how do you know our old names?"

"To answer your second question first, I was also in the Moon Kingdom when it fell to the Negaverse around two thousand years ago." Scott replied.

"So my mother sent your soul to the future also?" blurted out Moon. Scott gave at her with a questioning look, raising his left eyebrow.

"So you are Princess Serenity?" Scott asked.

"Uh... so what if I am. Who are you?" said Moon.

"I now go by the name Scott Schwartzstern, Antique dealer. I went by another name during the Silver Millennium." Scott began.

"And what was that?" Sailor Chibi-Moon interrupted.

"A name from my past which is now dead." Scott replied with a hint of anger in his voice.

"What about this unusual energy pattern that you have?" Mercury asked.

"And what about that person that you killed?" asked Venus.

"It will take me too long to explain that all to you tonight. It's late out and I can tell most of you are tired because I can see you yawning at times. How about we talk about all this tomorrow when we are all rested up."

"Are you just trying to get away?" asked Mars belligerently.

"No, Krystal. Even if I did, you know what my name is and what I look like. So you would only have to tell the police, and I would soon be caught." Scott replied.

"Where and when do you want to meet?" asked Moon.

"There is a shrine on the outskirts of Tokyo, the Nashimoto Shrine. I'll be there tomorrow at two in the afternoon. You know where the place is?" Scott asked.

"We'll find it." Mars confirmed.

"All right then. We'll meet there at two in the afternoon. Remember no attacks and no Police" Scott announced.

"What about the Silence Glaive?" Saturn asked, stepping up and looking around for her weapon. Scott looked at her and smiled.

"Look inside that case behind you, Talia." Scott responded, looking as if he were trying not to laugh.

Saturn glanced down behind her and saw the weapon case that Scott was talking about. Saturn glanced toward Mercury, who quickly scanned it. After verifying it was safe to open, Saturn opened the case and pulled the Silence Glaive out. When she got a good look at it she was surprised to see that the Glaive had been cleaned and polished, and had purple ribbons tied to it. She looked at it then up at a smiling Scott.

"I knew you would be coming back for it, so I polished it up for you as a way of saying sorry of what I did to you earlier." said Scott apologetically

"Um, Thanks." said Saturn quietly, blushing slightly at the memory of what he had done to her that afternoon.

"No problem. You better go and get some sleep, I'll see you all tomorrow." said Scott.

"So we will meet you at the shrine tomorrow at two in the afternoon, right?" Jupiter asked.

"That's right." Scott replied.

"Why do you want to meet there?" asked Mars.

"It is Holy Ground. It would not be polite to attack there."replied Scott.

Then the Senshi left the shop and walked down the street too meet up with Luna and Artemis, who were waiting for them in an alleyway.

"So what happened?" asked Luna impatiently.

"We're meeting him at the Nashimoto Shrine tomorrow to talk." Sailor Moon replied, a little bewildered at the way events had turned out.

"Why?" asked Artemis confused as to why they hadn't fought the Antique Dealer, but instead set up a time to talk with him.

"So we are all rested enough to fight if need be." Mars said angrily as she thought about her humiliating defeat at the shopkeeper's hands.

"He noticed that some of us were tired and he looked pretty tired himself He asked us if we could talk tomorrow and we agreed." Mercury said as seeing the looks of confusion that both cats had on their face.

"He said he was from the Silver Millennium. Do either of you know him?" Neptune asked.

"No, he doesn't seem familiar." Artemis replied glancing over at Luna.

"You girls go home and get some sleep. We'll watch him and see what he does. We'll call if anything happens." Luna assured the girls.

"Okay Luna." Sailor Moon said nodding and yawning hugely at the mention of sleep.

While the Sailor Senshi walked home, Luna and Artemis made their way towards Scott's shop to observe him and see if they could find any clues to his identity.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

AN HOUR LATER

Scott had just finished boarding up the broken window and finished sweeping up all the broken glass. He hung a sign on the door saying, "Closed for Repairs". He was heading up to his bedroom on the second floor, when again he felt the presence of another Immortal nearby. He cursed softly and grabbed his Katana and headed to his workshop.

He looked around but didn't see anybody, so he made his way to the back door.He was up against the wall by the door near the doorknob. Scott had his sword in his left hand and his right hand went and unlocked the door. He then started to lean over to look out the backdoor window. He noticed that someone was leaning over to look in the same way Scott was looking out. So it looked like he was looking at a mirror. The man was dressed in all black and had a smile on his face. It was then that Scott knew who the man is, it was Kevin O'Connell. Scott relaxed his stance and let Kevin in.

"Ziggy, what are you doing here?" asked Scott.

"What? Can't I visit an old friend of mine once in a while." replied Kevin.

"You know what I mean."

Kevin smiled because he knew what Scott meant. "He disappeared about several blocks from here. Like he was there one moment, gone the next."

"Hmmm, strange. Do you know who sent him after me?"

"I have a guess, but no solid proof."

"Who?"

"Damian Rochefort."

"I haven't seen or heard of him since the Titanic sank."

"That's why I said I didn't have any solid proof. He is the only one that has this much of a thing against me."

"At least the only one that would do anything to get to you."

"Well, yeah, and sorry I'm late. After seeing that guy that has been after everyone I know, I had to go after him."

"That's okay. The two girls that wanted to talk to you didn't show for some reason. I also had a visit from an Immortal that claimed I had taken Amanda Derrindelle's head and came after me."

"That would have been her husband, Austin, what happened?"

"He wouldn't believe me and kept attacking me."

"And you took his head?"

"Yeah." Scott sounded downcast when it came out.

"Man, you haven't been having any luck lately, have you?"

"Ha, ha. To top it off, I had a run in with Princess Serenity and her court after the police left."

"What! Princess Serenity was here? They're back?"

"I would say......."

Movement outside a window caught Scott's eye and he looked out the window but didn't see anyone. Kevin had a puzzled look on his face when Scott abruptly stopped talking and looked out the window. Scott looked back at him and said: "There's someone outside." in Gaelic. That made Kevin tense up and he nodded his head to acknowledge Scott. They both got up and went to separate areas in the shop.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

OUTSIDE

"I don't think he saw me." said Luna when she landed next to Artemis on the box next to the other window.

"They seem to be splitting up." replied Artemis after he glanced inside briefly.

"I'll follow the second one. You go after the Antique Dealer."

"Okay."

They split up, looking for their personal quarry. Artemis went around the back of the shop to see what he could find. He got to the back door and saw it slowly closing. He quickly made his way to the door to look around and inside. Before the door shut, he quickly slipped inside.

Artemis did a quick look around and only saw what appeared to be a workshop of some sort. He saw many antiques that appeared to need cleaning set on a table. He made his way to the table and jumped up to look at the antiques when a picture caught his interest. It was a picture of the Senshi, but blurred enough that you couldn't make out who they were. There was writing in the corner that said 'another photo for your strangeness collection' and was signed, 'Kevin'. Must be a friend of his. He was so busy looking at the picture, that he failed to noticed that the person he was supposed to be following was sneaking up behind him. He noticed him when Scott grabbed him with one hand and lifted him into the air.

"Gotcha." Scott laughed.

Scott lifted the now squirming and hissing white cat from his worktable Laughing a little at the futility of the animal's struggles. Then he noticed that the cat had a strange crescent moon mark on it's forehead and that gave Scott a nagging feeling like he should know where he has seen it before. Scott got his hand placed just right so the cat couldn't bite or scratch him, and made his way to the kitchen. When Scott made it to the kitchen, he saw Kevin already there carrying a bag with something squirming inside of it. When he got closer, he was able to hear the sounds of a cat hissing from inside the bag.

"See you caught yourself a cat also." said Kevin when he saw the white cat in Scott's hands.

"It was the only thing sneaking around my workshop." replied Scott.

"This cat was the only thing I found outside. What should we do with them?"

"I don't know. But this one seems familiar to me somehow."

"If you say so. You know what's strange?"

"What?"

"The cat I caught is similar to that one."

"How so?"

"Instead of being all white and male, this one's all black and female, but it also has that crescent moon mark on its forehead."

"Hmmm?"

"You know something, don't you?" knowing the look on Scott face.

"I might." replied Scott.

Scott looked down at the struggling cat in his hands and then with a toss and a flick of the wrist, he twirled the cat so it was now facing him. The cat was momentarily so dazed by the quick twirl that when it got refocused, it was looking straight into Scott's eyes. Artemis saw that the man holding him was smiling strangely, which didn't speak well for his chances, so he prepared to scratch his captor.

"Hello, Artemis." said Scott, smiling a little more. That caught everyone off guard. Artemis momentarily forgot that he was about to scratch Scott. Kevin looked at Scott as if he were afraid that his friend had lost his mind. But Artemis decided to pretend he was still a normal cat.

"Meow?" meowed Artemis hoping the guy would let him go, but Scott still held onto him, smiling even more.

"Ziggy, open the bag so I can throw him in with the other one." Scott said, otion to his friend.

"Uh....Okaaaaay." Kevin said still confused a little about what was going on.

Kevin held out the bag and opened it. Scott tossed Artemis in before Luna could react to the bag opening. Kevin then quickly closed the bag and tied it off. He then handed the now struggling two cats in the bag to Scott. Scott took the bag and set it on the kitchen table. The two cats tried to roll the bag off and would have succeeded if Scott didn't grab a chef's knife and drove it between the two cats, pinning the bag to the table. Both of the cats yelped when the knife struck the table. The two cats quieted down very quickly.

"Now, are you going to behave, or are we going to have trouble here." Scott growled, but got nothing but silence in response. "It's now one in the morning, I'm tired and I don't have time for all of this. I know both of you can talk, so drop the 'normal cat' routine okay."

"Cat's can't talk, Scott ol' buddy." said Kevin really starting to worry about Scott's sanity slipping.

"We can." came a female voice from the bag.

"What the!?!" exclaimed Kevin when he heard the voice.

"Hello, Luna, good to hear you again." said Scott.

"Sorry if I don't return the greeting, but I don't talk to strangers." said Luna with a hint of anger touching her voice.

"That's all right, I'm not really a stranger." Scott responded calmly.

"You know those cats?" asked Kevin with a trace of baffled question in his voice.

"Yes. They were Queen Serenity's royal advisers until she died in the final battle of the Moon Kingdom. Now I think they are Princess Serenity's royal advisors." explaining to both Kevin and the two cats.

"How do you know that?" came a male voice from the bag.

"Hello there Artemis. Good to see you've decided to join us, and to answer your question, I was there." replied Scott

"You could be from the Negaverse and know all that." said Luna with the same hint of anger in her voice.

"If your trying to get somewhere Scott, it's not going anywhere." said Kevin still confused about where this was leading, but he seems to remember something about two cats from his past.

"Then I better get to the point." said Scott

"Yes, please." said Kevin somewhat tired from being up this late talking to Scott and two cats.

"Luna, you stole several fish cakes from the royal cook when she wasn't looking. I made you return them when I caught you running out of the kitchen. Artemis, I caught you sneaking looks on the girl side of the royal baths when Princess Serenity and her court were in there. Any of this ring a bell?" asked Scott with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I didn't do that." exclaimed Luna surprised at the memory of that incident.

"I thought I saw a rat go in there." said Artemis defensively.

Then suddenly, both of them figured out what Scott was playing at. "Oh my God. It can't be. Gerrek!!" exclaimed both of the cats.

"Hello you two, remember me now?" asked Scott.

"What are you doing here?" asked Luna.

"If you two will behave yourselves, I'll let you out of the bag. I'm getting tired of talking to it. Do we have a deal?" asked Scott.

"Yes, you have a deal." said Luna. Scott reached over and untied the knot that held the bag shut, and the two cats wiggled themselves out of it and sat in front of Scott, grooming.

"If you don't believe me why don't you use your psi-powers, Luna, and scan my mind? It would probably save a lot of questions" Scott with some amusement as she looked at him disbelieving when she had gotten her fur rearranged.

Luna looked over at Artemis and saw him nod his head. Luna sighed and then concentrated on reading Scott's mind. What everyone in the room saw was a ray of yellow light go from the crescent moon mark on Luna's head to Scott's forehead.Where the beam of light touched on Scott's forehead, the symbol of Minerva appeared there and then disappeared shortly after the beam did.

What Luna saw when she scanned Scott's mind amazed her. She saw the battle that destroyed the Moon Kingdom from Scott's perspective and saw that he was killed in that fight. What really surprised her was that he died long before Queen Serenity had used her power to send the children of the moon kingdom to the future. But then she saw that he had come back to life shortly before Queen Serenity had used her power and then the discussion that he'd had with the dying monarch.

She then saw his life passing like she was watching a movie in fast forward. Seeing his life as he lived from when he arrived on Earth, over two thousand years ago. Watching, as he saw all his friends die and other darker parts of his life,until she got to a part that made her stop to look more closely, a part that involved the other man in the room. The man that was reborn from the power from Queen Serenity.The person that had been known at one time as Prince Siegmund Drakkar IV.

"Drakkar!" Exclaimed Luna when she broke off the connection.

"What?" asked Kevin and Artemis at the same time. One with a hint of bewilderment in his voice and the other wondering how the cat knew his name and what that yellow light was all about.

"You were the first prince of Neptune. Prince Siegmund Drakkar IV." said Luna staring at Kevin.

"Uh, Yeah, I know that already cat lady." said Kevin hesitantly.

"Well, I'd like to continue this," Interrupted Scott. "But it's getting late. So was I telling the truth about who I am, Luna?" asked Scott.

"Yes. You were telling the truth." replied Luna.

"Good. Now what were you two doing spying on me?" asked Scott.

"We thought that you were the Beheader, from the news, that is going around killing people." said Luna.

"Why would you think that?"

"Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi-Moon saw you kill a man."

"Sailor Chibi-Moon? That was the pink haired one, right?"

"Yes."

"I see. Looks like I got a whole lot to explain tomorrow."

"They also saw 'lightning' form around you." said Artemis.

"So we thought you were from the Negaverse." said Luna.

"Now I really have a lot to explain." Scott groaned bringing his hands to his face.

"Why don't you try now?" asked Artemis.

"It's really very confusing, and I would rather only say it once." Scott replied a little defensively.

"All right." Luna and Artemis agreed.

"You two better get back to Princess Serenity before she wonders what happened to you two." Scott finally said getting to his feet to let the cats out.

"She will be happy to know who you two really are." said Luna.

"You will not tell her, is that understood?" Scott said flatly, glaring at both cats to make his point clear.

"Why?" asked Artemis.

"I'll tell her tomorrow." Scott replied.

"But..."

"No buts. Is that understood?"

"Okay" both cats finally agreed.

"Are you going to the meeting, Siegmund?" asked Luna.

"Why do you want to know?" replied Kevin to Luna with a question.

"I think the 'talk' that Gerrek is going to have tomorrow is going to concern you also. I think you need to be there." said Luna.

"I'll be there." said Kevin after he looked at Scott for the answer and got his affirmative.

Once both of the had cats left the shop, Kevin looked at Scott sternly. "Okay, what's going on here?" said Kevin.

Scott sighed and told Kevin everything that had happened to him from earlier in the day to present. He was surprised when he finally heard who attacked Scott after he left to chase Daryl, then nodded when Scott mentioned the place where the meeting was to be held. Scott thanked him for saving his life when Daryl came and asked if he wanted to stay the night. Kevin told him he had to do some things before the meeting, but he would meet him in time to allow for the necessary proprieties to be taken care of before it. Scott locked up and went to bed, after letting Kevin out.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

IN THE NEGAVERSE

Damian Rochefort sat on his throne waiting for Daryl to report the results of his latest mission. He sensed an immortal approaching, then saw Daryl walking into the room, then stop before him, and bow.

"Report." Damian demanded.

"I was unable to take Schwartzstern out." replied Daryl, flinching a little at the finality of those words.

"Why?"

"I was interrupted by Drakkar before I could finish him." Daryl said softly. "He tried to follow me, but I was able to lose him."

"You failed me." boomed Damian angrily.

"I'm sorry. I'll do better next time." begged Daryl.

"We shall see. Time to bring in someone better equipped to deal with Drakkar. Annie!!." yelled Damian.

They both felt a presence nearby and turned as a woman walked in. The woman stood about five foot four inches and looked to be around the age of 18. She had dark, red hair done up in a rather severe style, and jade green eyes. She wore tight black jeans, a men's white dress shirt and a black leather jacket.

"Yes?" asked the woman.

"What have you come up with to get back at Drakkar?" asked Damian.

"It seems that Drakkar's friend, Scott, has two, young, mortal admirers." began Annie. "I've been watching his shop and following him wherever he went. I saw the incident that took place with him today. He was visited by the Sailor Senshi in his shop after Daryl's assault and in an alley when he took Derrindelle's head."

"Is that right." said Damian a little surprised at her fast work.

"We could ruin the Senshi at the same time we take care of Drakkar, if my plan works right."

"How so?"

"The two Senshi that attacked Schwartzstern in the alley, I've seen them transform. I know who they really are now, and where they go to school. We can kidnap them and use them to force Drakkar into our hands."

"I like that. All right, you will give Daryl the details of this plan. You, Daryl, will kidnap these two Senshi." said Rochefort.

"Yes, sir." said Daryl as he bowed.

Annie cleared her throat a little to regain Rochefort's attention.

"Yes, Annie, was there something else?" Rochefort growled.

"My lord, there is a possibility that Drakkar and Schwartzstern may be able to get the Senshi to aid them if we involve the two little ones." She said. "Currently they are distrustful of each other but that may change very rapidly if we involve the Senshi in what was until now a personal vendetta. It might be better to involve only immortals in this situation."

"No, Annie, I think it rather more likely that the Senshi would blame Drakkar and his friend for involving the two youngsters than aid them." Rochefort responded shortly. "Proceed with your plan, but keep me informed in all events. I want no surprises in this operation, is that understood," he grated out, glaring at his two minions who nodded understanding.

"Very well then," he ground out signaling their dismissal. "You have your orders, proceed. And do not fail me." This last was said with a glower directed toward Thorne.

After Daryl and Annie left to talk about the plans on what had to be done, Damian smiled to himself and looked into the distance.

"Soon Drakkar. Very soon I will have your head, and an end to your interference. Then I will rule the world. There will be nothing you can do to stop me ever again.


	5. Misunderstandings IV

1WARNING: This chapter contains graphic violence and events, which may offend some readers.

Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

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Chapter Four - Misunderstanding part IV

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This happens to be my (Matthew's) first fan fic, so how are we doing? This chapter is mostly flashbacks to provide some background on the two individuals we introduced earlier (Kevin, Scott, and the other Immortals) and to introduce a few more complications. To give you a little more background, on us tune in at the end for some stuff about what happened after we started writing this. Well on with the Fan Fic.

We hope you enjoy the story as much as we do so far.

x x

April 22, 1999, Tokyo, Juuban Ward

Makoto dialed the number on the card she held in her hand, wondering how she was going to explain to her new boyfriend that she had to cancel their first weekend date.

"You see, I'm a Sailor Senshi and I have to go talk to this guy who just might be a serial killer instead of going to a movie after shopping at the new mall," she muttered to herself as the phone started ringing. "Oh good Makoto, that'll go over, like a lead balloon."

The other end was picked up and a very tired sounding voice came over the phone line.

"Mushy, mushy," the voice said.

Makoto giggled a little recognizing her boyfriend's voice, then grew serious. "Hi, Kevin I was just calling to let you know... I mean... you see ...," she stuttered to a stop.

"Oh, Hi Makoto, I was just about to call you," He interrupted sleepily. "I'm going to have to postpone our date this morning. I'm not going to be able to make it to the mall, because a friend of mine needs a little help with something. Don't worry about the movie tonight though. I've already got the tickets and the dinner reservations. See you at five o'clock this afternoon?"

Makoto was stunned, and a little angry that she had gone through all of that worry for nothing. She forgot for a moment that she had called to cancel the date in the first place. Then she realized that she was being a little silly.

"Okay Kevin, I'll see you at five then," she said, still a little confused. She then hung up the phone and finished cleaning her apartment. It wasn't until she was on her way to the shrine that she realized that she didn't know what the problem her boyfriend was helping his friend with was.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Kevin O'Connell was a little annoyed with the older man he was following. Not that it was the other man's fault, just that he was Kevin's reason for being here in the first place.

"You had better hope my new girlfriend is a very understanding young lady, or I'm taking all the grief she gives me out of your hide in our next practice bout," He muttered darkly at the calm from in front of him.

"I wonder what her parents would think of the fact that she's dating a man over forty times her age, hmm?" Scott shot back, trying to keep from laughing at his friend's grumbling. "You, know it's not really healthy for you to be going after young girls like that. Your going to be 720 in a few months and that would probably put her out of any mood if she found out."

"Hey, nothing like that is going on, I mean we go to movies and the mall and stuff like that," Kevin muttered to himself.

"Not for the lack of you trying, though if I know you at all," Scott then laughed as he saw the blush rising on his friend's face. "So, you have tried, but the lady hasn't gone along with the plans, ehh? I've got to meet this girl, if she can get you to do what you hate, then stop you from getting everything you want then there might be something there," He continued, laughing harder than before.

"Well, all I can say is, at least I have a girlfriend," Kevin muttered to himself, then winced and looked at his friend apologetically. "Sorry Scott, forget I said that."

"It's okay, now that she's back I have to get used to the memories," Scott replied, his agitation becoming visible for the first time. "The good thing is that she can't remember anything about 'us', so I don't have to worry about her pitying me or anything like that. Nothing can go on between us now any way, so it's just as well," He then quickened his pace, leaving Kevin to trail behind him as they entered the grounds of the ancient Nashimoto shrine.

"You know Scott, maybe you and she can get together," Kevin said as they passed the home of the caretaker, nodding to the young man as they passed. "I mean, it's not as if she were married, or still an infant or something like that, you know."

Scott growled at his friend sending him an angry glare. "Shut up, Ziggy. I'm not like you," he said angrily. "I'm not going to let her ruin her short life, just so I can have her in mine. It's better that she doesn't know what we meant to each other then."

Kevin looked surprised at his friend's passion. "Hey man, I didn't mean anything by it," he said backing a little away from his glaring friend. "Well, it's just that I think you should maybe wait on this decision until you ask 'HER' opinion of the situation," He held up his hands, as Scott was about to interrupt. "I don't mean you have to tell her, just ask her what she thinks you should do... well maybe that won't work either. Just think about it, you could be getting yourself into a lot of trouble if you don't tell her, and let her help make this decision. I mean it involves both of you,"

"Go to hell Ziggy," Scott grumbled, glaring at his friend. "You have no idea what your talking about."

"Well anyway, you go talk to the honored ancestors, Scott," Kevin laughed unrepentantly. "Maybe you can convince them. I, however, will wait out here, since we both know that they would probably kill me if you took me in there."

Scott nodded and entered the shrine, bowing to each of the alcoves in turn. Kevin started to walk around the grounds and decided that the best use of his wait would be to practice his training in concealment. So, he climbed one of the ancient trees at the entrance and settled in to wait for the Senshi to arrive.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Makoto and the other Senshi met at the Hikawa shrine, and then proceeded to walk toward the rail station.

"I still can't believe you agreed to talk to him, Usagi," Haruka grumbled, remembering how easily the shopkeeper had dealt with every attack she had attempted. "I mean, the man has killed at least six people in cold blood, so he probably would have no problem with a few more murders, just to keep his secret."

"Well, I don't know about the murders, but the way he stopped us cold really gave me the creeps," Rei interjected. "I mean how can one person hold off all of us without even breaking a sweat? And why wouldn't he tell us how he knew our old names? What was he trying to hide?"

Ami looked up at the others from the book she was reading. "Maybe he wasn't trying to hide anything," She suggested. "Maybe it was just as he had said, he was tired and wanted to get some rest before he told us the reason for what he had been seen doing. The thing that confuses me is why he told us to meet him at the Nashimoto shrine. I mean he even emphasized the fact that it was holy ground when he suggested it. Why would that be important?"

The other Senshi agreed that there was definitely something strange about the meeting place, but they all had no idea what it could be. As they boarded the train to Kyoto, none of them noticed the strange girl who had followed them from the shrine.

"So they are going to meet Schwartzstern at his family's shrine, hmm?" Annie chuckled approvingly. "Very good, Scotty. You know there's no way we could get near it without you finding us first. Very clever indeed," Then she laughed shortly and walked into a short alley and opened a portal. There was no way she could get the two little ones away from the group they were always surrounded by. She would just have to wait for them to be alone.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Kevin heard female voices approaching the shrine from the direction of the train station, and jumped down from his tree to go warn Scott that his guests were arriving, so he missed the bright flash of light that accompanied the girls' transformations into the Sailor Senshi. He jogged down the path, and arrived, just as Scott exited the main building. He jogged up to Scott then laughed at the knowing expression on his friend's face.

"How did you know they were here," Kevin asked, chuckling a little at his friend's mysterious expression. "They just got here maybe two minutes ago."

Scott suddenly grinned at his friend's confusion, then laughed at his annoyed expression. "I could say that it was an ancient samurai trick," Scott said looking down his nose humorously at Kevin. "The thing is, it was almost time for the meeting so my alarm went off. We should probably go to the office to wait for them since that's where I told them we would meet."

Kevin nodded as he joined his friend walking back down the path to the simple building in a clearing a short distance away. As they approached the clearing, a flash of white caught their attention as the Senshi entered it from the other direction. Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus were several feet behind the others and appeared to be struggling.

"Well it looks like the two blondes are pretty tired," Kevin said, amusement coloring his voice. Then Sailor Jupiter caught his attention."Is that...No it can't be. She looks nothing like Makoto," Kevin thought to himself.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The Senshi stopped when they saw the two men at the other end of the clearing.

"Who is that guy with him?" Sailor Uranus said suspiciously.

"According to my scans, that is the man who waved at us last night," Sailor Mercury answered. "The energy signature is identical."

"Hey, he looks like my new boyfriend," Jupiter said, looking a little confused. Everyone looked at her in shock. "What would Kevin be doing here. I mean, he said he was going somewhere to help an old friend of his," she continued hardly noticing the bewildered looks she was getting from her friends.

"Do you know who that guy with the shopkeeper is Makoto?" Sailor Moon asked softly.

Sailor Jupiter looked up at the question, then blushed a little as the others stares finally registered. "Well, umm, you see he kind of looks like my new boyfriend Kevin," she mumbled a little self-consciously. "The thing is Kevin and I talked on the phone this morning, and he said he had to go help an old friend with something important. I guess this meeting was it."

The Inner Senshi turned to look at the man standing with Schwartzstern, and realized that he was in their homeroom class. He was wearing black jeans, a dark green dress shirt, and a long black overcoat. The hat that completed his normal outfit was in his hand.

"Well, I guess we had better go over there," Sailor Mars said finally. "Just remember, Jupiter, don't let him know who we are. We don't know which side he's on yet," After throwing the others a warning look she started towards the two men, with Sailor Moon right beside her.

x x x x x x x x x x

Scott watched the heated discussion among the Senshi, then nodded as they resumed their approach. Motioning to Kevin, he also began to walk toward the office, with O'Connell a few paces behind him.

"Hello ladies, Princess Serenity," He began. "Welcome to Nashimoto Shrine. Please, make yourselves comfortable" With this he motioned them into the shrine offices. Several servants bowed to him as he entered then quietly left the room.

Sailor Mars glared up at him as he waved expansively at their surroundings, indicating seats for them all. "Who are you that you can take over this shrine like this," she ground out accusingly.

He glanced at her in surprise, then laughed a little; realizing how strange the situation would look to anyone who was actually from Japan. "Yes, I can see how strange it must look to you having a gaijin giving orders in what is quite obviously an ancient family shrine," he began, making calming gestures to the servants who had stopped and were looking very angrily at the young girl. "You see, in all actuality this shrine does belong to me as the last remaining member of the Nashimoto Clan. So, you see, I am well within my rights to act in this way."

He glanced around at the others to gauge their reactions. Most of the Senshi appeared a slightly stunned, but strangely, Sailor Jupiter was staring at Kevin for some reason, and looked as if she hadn't heard any of what he had said.

"Why did you invite someone else to this meeting, Mr. Schwartzstern?" Sailor Moon asked, indicating Kevin. "This was to be only between us."

"Well Princess, the reason I invited my friend, Mr. O'Connell here, to this meeting is that the information involves him as well," Scott replied, laying a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Kevin is involved in this as much as the rest of us, and was in fact invited to this meeting by your own guardian," He added, indicating Luna who nodded her agreement.

"Luna?" Sailor Moon said looking down at the black cat.

"Yes, Your Highness, I did invite Mr. O'Connell to the meeting, because he is as involved in these events as any of us," Luna responded, indicting that she would go no further in her explanation. The Senshi looked at her in surprise, then looked back at Kevin.

"Well, I guess we might as well get on with the real reason for this meeting," He said rather pointedly to get their attention. "To answer the question of who I am, my name is Gerrek Bontrager, and I am the First Prince of Minerva," Everyone blinked at this pronouncement, and then Kevin started coughing as if trying to keep from laughing. Scott glared at his friend then glanced around at the Senshi to gauge their reactions.

Sailor Mars and Sailor Uranus looked as if they didn't believe him. Sailor Mercury was furiously typing into her computer, while Sailor Chibi-Moon was handing Sailor Saturn what looked like 5000 yen. Sailor Neptune returned his glance with a questioning one of her own, Sailor Jupiter was glaring at Kevin, while Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus just looked confused. Scott sighed in resignation at the mistrustful looks he was getting from Mars and Uranus.

"All right, if you don't believe me, ask me some questions," He grumbled, looking at each of them in turn. "I know you have a lot of them so go ahead."

"Okay, 'Mr. Bontrager', just how do you explain the fact that you killed that man yesterday, and don't appear to feel even a hint of remorse," Sailor Mars said accusingly. "You say you are one of the Princes of Minerva, but we have no proof that such a place even exists let alone that you are from that place."

"The last is easily answered, Krystal. Minerva was a loose confederation of asteroids that were under the rule of a queen. At least until the end of the Silver Millennium," Scott began. "Shortly before Beryl's attack on the moon, she sent three of the seven shadows to Minerva in secret. Shortly afterward several of the Minerva asteroids exploded, killing all of its two billion inhabitants," He shook his head as if to clear the image from his mind.

"As to the answer to the first, that will be a little more difficult," Scott said with a rueful grin at her doubting expression. "You see, my dear girl, he was trying to kill me, and it came about that the only way I could stop him was to kill him as I did. You see, had I not beheaded him , he would not have died and after a short time he would have come after me again, and perhaps succeeded in doing so to me. Now you may wonder why I had to behead him in order for him to die. It so happens that Austin Derrindelle, the man that those two young ladies were unfortunate enough to see me kill, was Immortal, as are Kevin and myself."

The Senshi' faces showed their shock and disbelief. Kevin shrugged as they directed an unspoken question at him. "It's true enough," Kevin responded. "I will be having my seven hundred and twentieth birthday in October, while my really OLD friend Scott there is two thousand and twenty-one years old. Derrindelle was a relative newcomer, but then he was only around two hundred," The Senshi looked at him in disbelief, except for Sailor Jupiter who was watching his every movement with a look of horror on her face. "What?!?" he said defensively as her expression changed to a dark scowl of anger.

Just as Sailor Uranus was starting to shout an accusation at Scott, a very calm alto voice said, "Hello Siegmund, long time no see," They all turned in surprise to see Sailor Pluto walking up the path looking straight at Kevin. "Just what are you doing on the grounds of the stronghold of your old enemies? And in the company of the Last of the Nashimotos no less. I wouldn't have expected you to be getting along so well. " Then she turned and blinked when she saw Scott. "SO! Prince Gerrek of Minerva is the last heir of the Nashimotos," She then muttered to herself. "I wonder how that came about."

Kevin groaned when he remembered the last place he had seen her. "Oh man, can't you just leave it alone Kiana, I mean that was 300 years ago," He looked at Scott who only looked a little amused at his predicament. Then he hunched his shoulders looking like a 17 year-old caught doing something he shouldn't. At the change Scott burst out laughing as if he couldn't get over the harried look on his friend face.

Sailor Pluto looked at the laughing man questioningly. "Oh, don't mind me Kiana, I just was wondering when you two last met," Scott said after he regained control of himself. "I mean, we haven't tried to kill each other in over a hundred years," He glanced over at the other Senshi, who looked like spectators at a tennis match.

Sailor Pluto also turned to the other Senshi and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, these two clowns are Prince Gerrek Bontrager of Minerva, and Prince Siegmund Drakkar of Neptune," Seeing the shocked question in Neptune's eyes she smiled. "Yes Sailor Neptune, He is your older brother," Turning back to the now dumbfounded O'Connell she looked at him questioningly. "The only thing that confuses me is that you haven't gotten any older. Aging was supposed to stop at a later point," She muttered to herself. She then looked at Sailor Uranus questioningly.

The object of her scrutiny shook herself out of her daze and walked over to her. "Sailor Pluto, I don't know who these men were before, but that one you call Gerrek killed a man yesterday, by beheading him," Sailor Uranus said urgently. "He says it was because the man was Immortal, and so are he and his friend there. But what does that have to do with it."

Sailor Pluto glanced quickly at Scott and Kevin, with surprise and a question in her eyes. At Schwartzstern's nod she took a steadying breath. "Well, well, no wonder you didn't age Siegmund," She laughed ruefully. "That would explain a great number of things in fact. When were you chosen, if you don't mind my asking."

"Well, I don't know about Scott, but I was 'chosen', as you call it in 1296 fighting the thieving English for Robert the Bruce," Kevin said, falling unconsciously into a very thick Irish brogue. He glanced angrily around as if challenging the girls to say anything.

"What do you mean 'chosen', Pluto?" Sailor Mars asked, looking at the two men, bewildered. "What's so special about them?"

"Simply put, Sailor Mars, they are what are called Immortals and they have been chosen to participate in the ultimate quest for knowledge and power," Sailor Pluto said evenly, looking toward the confused Senshi. "In aid of that quest, they do not age and are far tougher than any of you or even I myself could ever hope to be. They and the others who have been chosen are involved in a constant struggle to become the last of their kind in order to gain the prize of absolute omniscience. However, the only way an Immortal can die is by being beheaded. This requires the chosen ones to meet each other in duels to the death, the winner receiving what they call the quickening. This 'Quickening' seems to be the entirety of their opponent's life force and accumulated knowledge and power." The glazed look in the eyes of the other Senshi caused Pluto to sigh and glance over at the two men, the younger of the two pretending to be asleep against one of the walls.

Sailor Pluto cleared her throat pointedly and Kevin O'Connell stood up straight and smiled at her obvious displeasure. Scott glanced over at his friend and shook his head at the younger man's apparent lack of tact. As the Senshi' eyes cleared, she noticed a very dangerous light coming into Sailor Jupiter's eyes as she looked at O'Connell, and wondered what had happened to bring about this meeting, but whatever had happened earlier these two men were going to become necessary. The Senshi would need their help even more than they had in the closing days of the Silver Millennium.

Sailor Jupiter continued to glare at O'Connell, as Sailor Moon shook her head and looked at Sailor Pluto. "Pluto are you sure we should get them involved in our problems?" She asked, glancing apologetically at Scott. "I mean, from what you're telling us, the most important thing in their lives is this search for knowledge and power, which seems could get pretty dangerous. So can we get them involved without endangering them or ourselves?"

"Sailor Moon, your concern does you credit," Pluto replied. "But, know this, you must find all of the remaining planetary knights to defeat this new menace. These two will assist you in discovering your new enemy, but be warned, the oldest enemy of the Moon Kingdom backs this new force," Scott jerked upright at this looking at Sailor Pluto in horror.

She raised her hand to stop him when he was about to question her. "I'm sorry Prince Gerrek, but I can only warn you that this new foe is well known to you," She then turned to face Sailor Moon and whispered. "Princess you have found two of the Planetary Knights, though you did so before I thought you would. The others should be appearing soon enough, however you must find the Princess of Minerva at all costs or all will have been for nothing," She then raised the time key and disappeared.

"So, we know when the kid over there was reborn, but what about you Prince Gerrek?" Sailor Uranus said belligerently.

"I was 'chosen' at the end of the Silver Millennium," Scott said quietly, casting an involuntary glance in Mercury's direction. "I was never reborn in the sense that Kevin or you others were. In fact I saw the effects of the spell that sealed Beryl and Metallia with their army in the Negaverse, and sent all of the dead or dying into the future. I also saw Luna and Artemis placed into stasis and sent to Earth. When I saw the numbers of the dead, I only wished we had gotten there sooner," He shivered in horror as the memories washed over him.

"What do you mean 'gotten there sooner'?" Sailor Jupiter snapped, causing the other Senshi to glance at her in surprise. "As Planetary Knights why weren't you on the Moon at the beginning of the attack?"

Scott glanced at the angry girl and sighed. "In order to answer that, I will have to tell you the story of what happened at the end of the Silver Millennium... It was the day of the Princess' Birthday party, when her betrothal was to be announced, as well as those of two of her court. The gala had been planned for over three months, and the dancing had already begun. Two of the evening's participants had not arrived since they were on special assignment for the queen, but were expected arrive in time for the announcements.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Well, how does it feel to know that tonight is your last as a completely free man?" Siegmund asked as he checked the sensor readings on their cutter. Slightly smaller than the exploratory cruisers that the queen had recently authorized, it was still the largest ship that could safely land on a planet's surface. He looked up and laughed at the mildly annoyed expression he saw on his companion's face.

Prince Gerrek Bontrager of Minerva glared at the man sitting in the pilot's seat for a few more minutes, then proceeded to check his own engineering and science instruments. He was scanning for any signs that the Negaverse had forced a breakout on Mercury or Earth to corroborate the report the Queen's advisors had received. If they had it would be an act of war which would bring the wrath of the entire solar system down on the unfortunate perpetrators' heads.

Drakkar smiled at his friend's back, and then turned back to his own instruments. This mission had sprung up out of nowhere on the eve of the announcement of both his friend's engagement, and his own as well as that of Princess Serenity to Prince Endymion of Earth. Queen Beryl of the Negaverse had issued an ultimatum that either the Government surrender Princess Serenity to her, or her troops would destroy the Moon Kingdom.

Siegmund smiled at the exact wording of the threat. Princess Beryl of one of the petty kingdoms of Earth had developed an infatuation for Prince Endymion on a state visit to the planetary court, and had been outraged when she heard of his Betrothal to the much younger princess of the Moon Kingdom. The magnitude of this outrage had not been fully appreciated until the then Princess Beryl had vanished, then a full year later returned as Queen Beryl of the Negaverse. Since that time the Negaverse had staged numerous raids in force on Kingdom outposts including several attempts to assassinate both Queen Serenity and her daughter. The heightened security measures applied in response had resulted in heavy casualties for the Negaverse.

On Earth, demon attacks had escalated enormously and all planetary garrisons had been placed on alert. These measures had not been in time however, for Princess Beryl's family. In one night, every member of her family had been killed by Negaverse constructs. It was believed that these attacks were carried out on Beryl's orders, but there were undocumented reports that the leader of the constructs had destroyed each after it carried out it's mission to prevent the construct from reporting mission completion to Beryl.

Siegmund himself didn't believe for a moment that the report was accurate, especially since he had met Beryl during that fateful party where she had learned of Endymion's upcoming betrothal. The look in that girl's eyes had been frightening when the announcement had been made that there were marriage negotiations in progress. Her entourage had very shortly there after left, but Siegmund and Gerrek had seen enough to worry them. King Endymion had down played his warning, but Gerrek had also quietly warned Prince Endymion and Queen Serenity of the possible danger, and they had taken the necessary precautions.

Unfortunately, their precautions had only stopped her minions from attacking the planetary strongholds themselves, and the creatures were becoming more audacious as the Planetary Guards were forced further back toward the strongholds.

Siegmund shook his head as a threat warning lit up on his board, and he rapidly shifted his sensors to concentrate on that area. The gravitic sensors localized the emission source at the same time that Gerrek's energy sensors told him that there was a massive portal opening in the very center of the Mercury Stronghold. As Drakkar's visual sensors came on line Gerrek gasped at the image they displayed. The capital of Mercury was in ruins, and there were massive gaps in the defensive walls of the stronghold. As he watched assault transports began coming through the now stabilized gate and smaller personnel gates began appearing all over the city. Mercury had already fallen, and from the reports they had received before their departure, Earth could very likely be next.

Siegmund shifted his pilot's seat back to its flight position. The cutter spun on its axis, accelerated through an extremely tight skew turn, and raced toward Earth. As they approached Venus they saw multiple explosions coming from its surface, then a blinding flash of light, after which all communications from that world ceased. They were nearing Earth orbit when all signals from the Minerva star platforms stopped, and an enormous explosion became visible in the distance.

At the same time, the communications panel howled as a priority transmission was broadcast from Tranquility base.

"Alert, all stations alert," the voice of the base commander came on as the system came online. "This is not a drill. Multi-point breakouts have been detected on all system planets. All units are to report in to Tranquility Base as soon possible. Situation is as follows. Breakouts detected on all planets. Null signal from Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Minerva, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. Evidence of total destruction of Minerva, and one hundred percent casualties on all outlying planets. Assault carriers have been detected in..." the transmission cut off as a flash was seen from the surface of the moon.

The landing beacons from the near side base failed and was immediately replaced by the far side emergency field beacon. As they were bringing the cutter in for a landing at Ingenii base they saw a gate open and several assault transports spill through. They landed at the edge of the landing apron, and grabbed their mission recording to turn in with their report. When they reached the end of the ship's ramp they gazed in horror at the battle going on near the control tower. As they watched the guards defending the tower were swarmed under and the audible beacon indicator shut down as the beacon was destroyed.

Siegmund drew his sword as he ran toward the transport hanger at the end of the field, with Gerrek right behind him. Their swords glinted in the field lights as they rushed to assist the royal guardsmen defending the armored transport craft. They carved their way through the demons, which were trying to get to the transports and use them to continue their attack, just as the last guardsman fell. Siegmund glanced inquiringly over at Gerrek who nodded imperceptibly at his friend, then twisted the hilt of his sword, and raised it above his head.

"Minerva Wolf Activation!!!" Gerrek shouted, glaring at the demons charging to attack them.

Suddenly a blinding white light surrounded him, and when the light cleared he stood there in black and purple plate mail with a howling wolf on the breastplate, and his sword glowed purple with immense power. The lesser demons they had been fighting took one look at him and ran screaming for the nearest gate. Gerrek smiled at Siegmund who simply placed the blue crystal from his medallion onto the hilt of his sword and saluted his friend.

"Neptune Dragon Activation !!!" he roared, raising his sword to the sky.

A dark blue glow pulsed out from the crystal on the hilt of his long sword, and immediately surrounded him. When the glow dissipated, he smiled back at his friend. He was now dressed in black and sea green armor with a dragon on the breastplate. His sword continued glowing dark blue as he lowered it and motioned for his friend to precede him into the hanger.

The first assault tank they came to was on ready status and fully loaded for ground assault. Siegmund climbed into the pilot's seat while Gerrek manned the main weapon console and slaved the turrets to his control. Siegmund brought the reactor to full power then eased the tank forward out of the hanger. The entire field including their cutter was in flames as they came back into sight of it. With a grim salute to those who had fallen defending Ingenii Base, Siegmund turned the tank toward the capital road and shifted to high gear. The tank blasted away at three times the speed of sound as the repulsion plates on the bottom activated lifting it above the ground.

"Palace One, this is Dragon Knight, I repeat Palace One this is Dragon Knight, request status report on enemy movement between Ingenii base and Capital," He listened as nothing but silence came back through the satellite link. He cursed heatedly, then glanced back at Gerrek. "They got the satellites, so I guess were on our own until we can get a line of sight link with the palace," He said, then turned away and muttered to himself "if it's still there."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Palace, this is Dragon Knight, repeat, Palace, this is Dragon Knight, are you there?" Dragon Knight sighed, tired of repeating the message.

"Dragon, this is Gryphon, Palace is receiving." Gryphon Knight said sounding harried. "What is your status?"

"We borrowed a Grendel tank from Ingenii Base." Siegmund replied. "Dragon and Wolf are inbound on the Capitol Road. We need a gate designator."

"Head for gate 28 South, I'll have the Wolf Pack meet you there."

"What did I tell you?" Siegmund said as he finished talking to Gryphon Knight. "I knew we'd get here in time."

"Yeah, I know." Gerrek growled. "You're the man. But did you have to drive like that? I swear you are the craziest driver I've ever seen."

"Crazy huh?" Siegmund said, smiling maniaclly. "I'll show you crazy!"

He suddenly swerved down a side street, chasing a squad of negaverse soldiers. He followed them everywhere, even through buildings. When the last of them had been run over by the tank, he turned and the gate they had been told to go to was right in front of them. After they had passed through, Siegmund looked back at his pale friend grinning.

"Now that was crazy!" he said, missing the warning light indicating an unknown energy source on the tank. Gerrek just shook his head in disbelief and motioned for Siegmund to exit the tank first. They were walking toward the Palace when Gerrek heard gravel shifting behind him. He spun around, summoning his sword, but it was too late. As one of the changeling's Rune covered daggers bit into his right hand. He felt a flash of extreme pain, then everything went black.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Prince Gerrek smelled smoke as he opened his eyes. He tried to get an idea of his surroundings, but his face was covered with a sheet. From what he could tell he was in a very cramped, cold, dark space. He reached over his head and found what seemed to be a door, but there was no handle. Thinking that he had been captured and was now in an isolation cell, he smiled that they hadn't removed his sword. Then he noticed he was also still dressed in his armor. Confused, but grateful that he still had his powers, he concentrated for a few minutes.

"Howling Wolf Cyclone!" he shouted, picturing a tornado directed above his head. With a shriek of tortured metal, the door was gone allowing a small amount of light into his cell. He slid himself out trying to get his balance, when he noticed the voice blaring over the intercom.

"Perimeter Breach in the Royal Compound," the voice he recognized as Siegmund Drakkar's shouted. "Perimeter Breach in the Royal Compound. All guards retreat to the command center passages, and prepare for operation breakout," Behind Drakkar's voice people could be heard shouting and explosions could be heard in the distance.

Something was very wrong here, Gerrek thought. Glancing up at the time display on the wall, Gerrek noticed that it was approximately two hours after his arrival at the palace. Still confused, he took a look at his surroundings, and shuddered when he realized he was in the Guard Morgue. He was horrified at the thought that he had almost been buried alive, then spun warily when he heard a shuffling noise in the passage outside. Holding his sword at the ready, he walked to the open entry hatch.

Gerrek glanced down the hall, just in time to see another changeling slip around the corner toward the war room with a pulse rifle in its hands. Swearing, as he realized that the guards had not been moved in time Gerrek gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, and quickly followed the evil creature. As he rounded the corner, he looked down the passage in horror. Dozens of guards lay dead or dying as the demons in front of him tore into their comrades. Then Gerrek caught a flash of color out of the corner of his eye, and looked on in disbelief as he saw the younger Senshi, and two Planetary Knights sneak down a side stairway. In the middle of the group was Princess Serenity struggling with Siegmund Drakkar, and shouting for her mother. At that very instant, the changeling that he had been following heard her and motioned some of its fellows to follow it. He swore as he saw a black shape detach itself from the shadows in front of fleeing group. Just as they were about to turn the corner that lead to the hall of gates, Gryphon Knight ran corner followed by Gerrek's little sister, Cassandra. It looked like they were running from something, and it was soon evident what as a group of negaverse soldiers rounded the corner.

Gerrek was about to shout a warning, when Jadeite stabbed five year old Cassy in the back. Gryphon Knight whirled as if he sensed her death, and Zoicite removed his head before he could defend himself. Both groups stopped and looked at each other in surprise, then the Negaverse troops recovered and a voice that Gerrek recognized easily ordered them to kill the entire group. The small group trying to take the Princess to safety had just run into Queen Beryl and her generals.

As the Senshi squared off with the Generals, he watched the shadow move toward Beryl's position and just as it was about to reach her, the changeling he had been following fired, hitting the shape. Suddenly the shadow resolved itself into a man in formal dress wearing a mask.

The man started running at Queen Beryl with a weapon in his hand, but she saw him coming in plenty of time, and hit him with a powerful energy blast. As the blast hit, the mask flew off revealing Prince Endymion of Earth's face. The cry of anguish from Princess Serenity caught his attention, as she collapsed from the feeling of Endymion's death resonating over their soulbond.

Prince Gerrek moved to assist his friends, but it was too late. He watched helplessly as Tiger Knight was torn apart by demons. Then the Senshi began to fall. As he watched Venus crumpled as Zoicite withdrew his sword from her body, and Neptune fell impaled by a spear. The distraction of her love's death caused Uranus to miss a parry, and she fell, as Sailor Mars's neck was broken by Jadeite. As Mercury, Jupiter, and Prince Siegmund drew together to protect the Princess, Sailor Saturn was surrounded by a dark glow, then vanished, leaving only the four Senshi behind.

The Generals surrounded the remaining defenders, grinning evilly as they encircled them. Gerrek was almost to them, when General Jarosite shot Sailor Jupiter with an energy blast. As Siegmund's knees buckled from the pain of that blast, Zoicite laughed and plunged his sword through Drakkar's heart. Kunzite smiled as he reached out and lifted Sailor Mercury over his head. Then her brought her down again, breaking her back. Gerrek stumbled as waves of pain washed over him, and then abruptly stopped. He glanced up in wonder at the bright light coursing down from the council tower. As the Generals backed away from it, cursing, each of the fallen Senshi, Prince Endymion, Princess Serenity, and the last two Planetary Knights were surrounded by glowing energy.

"I will not permit this," a thunderous female voice said, crashing over the palace compound, shaking it to its foundation. "Depart Evil Scum, you are hear-by banished from this plane. BE GONE!!!!"

Beryl and her Generals screamed as they were suddenly surrounded by painfully bright light that grew brighter until Gerrek could no longer look at them. When the light faded, they had vanished.

"This will not be the end," the voice from the tower continued. "GO FORWARD, BE REBORN INTO A BETTER, HAPPIER TIME," As the voice finished this pronouncement the glowing spheres around the Senshi pulsed then faded, vanishing quietly. Then the light pulsing from the tower faltered and died. Gerrek retrieved his sword from where his nerveless hands had dropped it, and made his way back toward the war room.

When he arrived there, no sign of the enemy could be seen on any of the operating monitors. He was looking around for surviving guards, when he heard a groan from the council chamber. He quickly moved to the door and gasped at the scene inside. The Elder Senshi lay in a ring around the barely moving form of Queen Serenity. He checked each of them, but the queen was the only one still breathing.

Propping her up, Gerrek drew a flask of water from the table and held it to her lips. After a short drink, she started coughing, so he drew the flask away. He held her for a short time then she stirred again and looked into his eyes.

"Prince Gerrek," she said in some surprise, then understanding replaced it. "You have been chosen for the Great Struggle," she said, sadness clouding her features. "I had hoped you would go with my dear daughter to assist her in the future, but now I must lay an even more dreadful burden upon you. Go to Earth, on the largest landmass you will find a man chosen millennia ago as you were. Find him and tell him that the Kingdom of the Moon is no more. Tell him that Beryl and her minions have been banished from our plane, but that the time shall come when they shall return. Then the Moon Kingdom shall rise again and never be extinguished. Now go, and when you reach Earth, seal the portal so that the Moon alone shall die," After she said this, the queen shuddered, then lay still.

Gerrek laid her down gently, then slowly left the Counsel Hall. In the War room, he saw a strange case near a dead Negaverse soldier. Opening it, he quickly realized that it was designed to carry the talismans of the Planetary Knights. Taking the case with him, he continued down the hall toward the gate chamber. When he reached the site of his friend's doomed struggle, he caught sight of their talismans lying in the rubble. Gathering all of them, he placed them gently into the case, then got to his feet and walked to the hall of gates.

The room was in shambles. Several of the gates were shattered, and all of the permanent gates showed hostile environment warnings. Stepping to the emergency gate behind a secret panel, he took out the portal key, making a return trip impossible. Glancing out the window, he saw the first fluctuations of the protective dome as it began to collapse. Saluting his ruined home, he activated the gate and stepped through, saying fare well to all he had known and loved.

As he appeared in the middle of the stone ring, he smiled sadly, and transformed back into his uniform. He looked at his own talisman, his sword, then put it in the case with the others. With a sigh, he buried the case under one of the support stones for the alter, using his Knight powers, then went in search of the man his Queen had given him a message for. As he left the Dolmen, for the first time he felt completely alone.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

As Scott finished, he glanced around at his audience. Sailor Moon, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Chibi-Moon were lying against each other, asleep. Uranus, Neptune, Mars, and Venus were looking rather stunned, Mercury had an extremely curious look on her face, and Sailor Jupiter was still glaring at Kevin, who seemed to be getting more uncomfortable as each minute passed. Luna was talking to Artemis, who seemed to disagree with something she had said a little earlier.

He cleared his throat to break the silence, and froze in shock when Artemis' voice shouted into the silence.

"But Luna, he and Sailor Mercury were betrothed for three years before that happened," At this, Sailor Mercury glanced at them in confusion, blushing hotly.

"It doesn't matter Artemis," Luna replied. "Just because Prince Gerrek and Sailor Mercury were engaged in the Silver Millennium doesn't mean they can't be now," Sailor Mercury glanced over at Scott now with comprehension slowly becoming a certainty, then her blush grew hotter as she remembered.

"They've been apart for 2000 years Luna," Artemis responded, exasperated. "Besides she probably doesn't even remember it now."

"She does now, idiot," Scott said with some annoyance, as his plan to go slowly around his former fiancee was rendered unnecessary. "Honestly, can't you two keep a secret at all,"

The cats looked up at him in surprise, then worriedly glanced over to Mercury for verification. The look on her face as she tried to come to grips with the new revelation left them no room for doubt that she had heard everything they had said. The Inner Senshi were looking between Sailor Mercury and Scott in confusion, then Sailor Venus leaned over to Sailor Moon with a sly looked on her face and whispered something in her ear. Sailor Moon gasped at the comment, then seeing Mercury's red face, started giggling uncontrollably.

Sailor Jupiter glared at Kevin for a while longer then blinked as if something had just hit her.

"So, Kevin, what did Pluto mean when she said she was surprised to see the two of you on such good terms," she said with a hard look in her eye.

"Yeah, what's going on that you haven't told us?" Sailor Mars said glancing at the two men.

"Well it's kind of hard to explain really," Scott said, scratching the back of his head self-consciously. "I guess you could say it had more to do with who we were hanging around with than anything else."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Japan 1701, Hokkaido

Akuji Nashimoto stood watching as the sky darkened into night, then continued on his way to check the guards charged with ensuring the safety of his Daimyo. As he neared the Daimyo's palace, he was reminded by one of the sentries, that it was his brother, Tenchi who was responsible for the guard tonight. He smiled and nodded as he continued on eager to see his brother and scare the guard into being especially vigilant tonight. The Daimyo of the Edo Province had demanded that Lord Shinusuke should swear fealty to him and drive all gaijin from his lands. Lord Shinusuke had refused and a state of war had been declared between the two provinces. The shogun had spoken to both lords, and agreed that they had just cause for their dispute. Some of the clans of the Edo province did not however, wish to come against the armies of Hokkaido, so it was rumored that they had hired the Nakijima Clan of Ninja, to remove the present Daimyo, and his family, in favor of his more amenable cousin.

Akuji was smiling as he walked up to his brother and bowed semi-mockingly. His brother smirked in return, then called the guard detail to attention. After the inspection they walked back to their quarters.

"So Akuji, anything new on princess detail," Tenchi said, laughing when his brother blushed at the mention of his current assignment.

"Not really new, brother, but there is something concerning me about Lady Michiko," Akuji replied checking to ensure that no one was listening since he was discussing the Daimyo's youngest and favorite daughter. "On five separate occasions she has vanished from her rooms without anyone seeing her leave. On her reappearance from one of these occasions, her elder sister saw her in the baths, and reported later to their mother that the girl had abrasions on her breasts and thighs. When her mother examined her she found that the girl was still a virgin, and on questioning the girl said that the marks had been a trick of the light. Since they were no longer there, her mother was forced to agree, but the girl's maid has noticed some rather odd behavior. Lady Michiko has been caught singing in a very strange language, and when questioned denies that she was singing anything but traditional songs. Finally, the girl has been painting pictures of some strange land. It looks nothing like the surrounding countryside, or from all my travels, anywhere in Japan."

"What can be going on in that girl's mind?" Tenchi's grumbling comment struck a cord in Akuji's mind as he cast back over his memories looking for a possible solution.

"I have a possible idea what is going on here," Akuji said scathingly to his brother as a possibility struck him. "First, when was the last time she vanished?"

A little surprised Tenchi stuttered, "J-j-just this morning, and she returned from the bath house not more than ten minutes before I inspected the guard detail," As he looked at his brother's retreating back he wondered what had struck his brother.

Akuji swore as he hurried to the Laundry area hoping it wasn't to late. As he arrived, he saw the Princess' maid bring a basket of clothing into the room. Stopping her before she gave the clothing to one of the washer women Akuji examined all of the clothing. On the undergarments, he found several suspicious stains but no other evidence. He had almost given up when he noticed a hair on the hem of the kimono. As he drew the hair off, he knew instantly from the color that the princess had not been truthful in her denials.

He walked to the women's quarters muttering darkly to himself that it had better not be what he thought it was, or that girl had endangered his brother's life as well as her own. He arrived in the gallery level and proceeded to the observation point for Michiko's quarters. As he watched, the princess came in from the gardens singing softly to her self. Initially the song was to soft for him to make out the words, but when he finally heard the words she was singing his blood ran cold. That language was not from Japan or any land near it. He cursed softly as he quietly left the gallery and hurried back to his brother's quarters with his findings.

When Akuji burst into Tenchi's room, he was gasping a little from the run.

"She's sneaking out to meet with a gaijin, Tenchi," He blurted as he tried to get his breath back. "The proof of it is right here," Having said this, he waved the incriminating hair at his brother.

"What is that, a hair?" His brother said in confusion.

"This hair was on the hem of the Kimono that she was wearing this morning," Akuji replied, showing the strands he had found to his brother. "No man or woman born on this island has hair this color. Also, I know the language that she was singing in when her maid couldn't understand her, and it is from a land that is far from here. Based on the stains on her underclothes, the song, and the color of the hair I found, I'd say little Michiko has gotten herself rather heavily involved with a gaijin. Now based on her mother's examination, the gaijin may not be male but even so a gaijin's presence in this province is against the Shogun's edict. If the princess knew this and she did not report it to her father, her life would be forfeit. With Edo agitating for Lord Shinusuke's removal I firmly believe that it could result in the loss of the entire family."

Tenchi stared at his brother, stunned at the horrible situation one girl's love life had caused. Then he jumped from his chair, as the palace alarm rang out signaling an attack.

Grabbing their swords from the racks set aside to hold them, Akuji and Tenchi ran as they saw smoke rising from the stables, then paused when they saw the black shrouded figures at the guard entrance. They drew their swords and charged the ninjas, killing two before they could defend themselves. The other two didn't last much longer and then they were in the palace itself.

They encountered numerous guards and were passing the women's quarter, when they heard screams from behind the door. Tenchi continued toward the Daimyo's chambers, while Akuji entered the women's quarter. Several maids lay dead in the passage where the ninjas had surprised them. Screams could be heard coming from the wives' chambers then cut off suddenly. He ran toward the princesses' quarters, and just a he reached entrance, he felt a familiar tingling in his nerves. Glancing around, he heard a muffled argument coming from Michiko's room. Swearing, he ran to the door and thrust it open to find a ninja, trying to drag Michiko to a window. The girl was struggling heavily though so it was taking longer than the man had obviously anticipated. Akuji was about to rush to the princess' rescue when her words finally registered.

"Ka'van, I must help my sisters," she was shrieking at the man. "I can't just let them be killed," Saying this she tried to break free once more."

Then the man spoke, as if he had heard her say this before. "Michi, you have to leave now," the man said in a voice Akuji recognized. "There is nothing you can do for your mother or sisters. It will be a miracle if we can escape unnoticed just by ourselves. I know you want to help them, but the best way for you to help anyone, is for you to come with me now and help me to protect Ryonusuke. If he doesn't survive then there is no hope of your family ever regaining control of this province. Your cousin Shinji will become the undisputed ruler, and you will have no hope of living peacefully anywhere in the islands," After he said this, Michiko stopped struggling, nodded reluctantly, and then walked to the window and slid down the rope tied there.

The ninja was about to follow when he turned and stared in surprise at Akuji. He then pulled his mask off revealing a grinning face surrounded by dark red hair.

"Well, well, Scott old friend fancy seeing you here," the man said shaking his head ruefully. "What have you been doing for the last five centuries or so, that you can't keep in touch with your friends," Seeing Scott's bare blade his grin faded a little and he drew the sword at his back.

"You come to my lord's domain and endanger the lives of two entire families, and you greet me as 'friend'?" Scott raged moving toward the red-haired man cautiously. "Kevin O'Connell, you shall die for your treachery this day," As he said the last he charged O'Connell attempting a cut the man's face.

Kevin O'Connell jumped backward as his friend and mentor tried to remove his nose, then brought his sword up to block the return strike aimed at his neck. As their swords clashed he jumped back again just as Scott did the same. Smiling confidently he lowered himself into a guard position and simply watched his opponent.

Scott muttered under his breath as he realized that he had been stopped by a counter that he had taught O'Connell himself. Then grinned as he remembered that he had learned many new skills since the Nashimoto had adopted him. He drew his self up and launched into an extremely intricate sword dance, which would result in decapitation if not halted. But Kevin was no longer in his path as he reached the ending sequence. Scott spun finding his opponent attempting to sneak out of the room. With a rush Scott blocked Kevin's escape route, and smiled at his enemy's disappointment.

Kevin glared at Scott, then spoke very softly. "If you really want a fight Scott, I'll give it to you but we need to hurry or someone is going to notice Princess Michiko and her little brother are missing, and start searching for them. If I don't get them out of here soon, we may not escape. So let's get on with this if we must," Having said this he took several steps backward then sank into a guard position.

Scott sank into his own guard position then advanced, holding his sword before him. Kevin retreated a little then struck with lightning speed at Scott's off-side sweeping his sword upward, only to be stopped at the last instant by Scott's blade. He then dropped and rolled away as Scott counter attacked. He got to his feet just as Scott got back with range, and brought his sword up barely in time to stop the sweeping head cut Scott had aimed at his neck. Kevin then smiled as their weapons bound, and then as they struggled against each other he leaned in and gave his friend a kiss on the check then broke away laughing at the look on his friend's face.

Scott glared at his laughing opponent, then began moving again. As one they both started a pattern dance that lasted for a number of minutes before both swords flew from their owners' hands. Scott's landed near the door, while Kevin's landed point first in the floor near the window. As both men scrambled to retrieve their blades, Scott turned just in time to see Kevin reach the window, salute him with a grin, and cut the rope performing a perfect dive roll to the ground below. As Scott watched helplessly from the balcony, Kevin and his two companions, the princess and her young brother, fled into the cover of the forest at the edge of the clearing.

With a curse Scott returned to the women's quarter which was now filled with the silence of the dead. Rivulets of blood ran from many of the doorways to the other princesses' rooms and one of them was laying at her doorway with her Kimono torn from her body. At this Scott ran to each door then swore in disgust as he saw that all of the Daimyo's daughters down to the youngest were dead, and all of them had been raped before they were killed. He then proceeded to the nursery and saw that the three babies had been beheaded, and their mother's lay about the room gutted. When he finally got to the wives' quarters, he felt sick at the carnage. When he entered the quarters, he swore in rage at the site before him. The wives had been caught unaware by their attackers, and had been unable to escape. Each had been tied to her bed, then repeatedly raped. After all of their attackers had had their fill, they had been gutted like animals. All that is with the exception of the Daimyo's wife.

She had killed on of the men who attacked her and taken up his sword, killing several of them before one had removed her hand at the wrist. They had then cut her breasts from her body and as she was bleeding to death from her wounds they had taken the sword she had used and run it into her body through her vagina. At the sight of her mutilated form Scott lost control of his stomach, stumbled to a corner, and added the contents of his stomach to the blood and gore covering the floor.

When he finally regained control, he ran back out of the women's quarter, and then stopped at the sounds he heard. Gone were the sound of fighting, replaced by an eerie silence that filled him with foreboding. He ran to the Daimyo's room to find it deserted except for the dead. In one corner near a window he found the Daimyo's decapitated body. A short distance away he found Tenchi. Both of his hands missing, and he had been mutilated after death. Scott reached up and closed his brother's eyes then stormed out of the palace, noting the dead guards. When he came to the guard compound he heard more fighting, and ran to the gate. The ninjas still held the gate hear, but they were not expecting an assault form behind them, and soon the guards streamed out of the compound then stopped when they saw Scott.

"Lord Akuji, what is happening up at the palace?" One of the guards demanded noticing the blood on Scott's clothing. "Where is Lord Shinusuke?"

"Lord Shinusuke and his family are dead except for Lord Ryonusuke and his sister the lady Michiko who have been captured," Scott responded, then paused to let that statement sink in. "The Nakijima clan has succeeded in their task and Lord Shinji is now the Daimyo. This can mean only one thing for all of you and the entire Nashimoto clan. Unless we can recover Lord Ryonusuke, we are all Ronin and shall be killed by the Edo soldiers as they see fit. We must do so or all of Lord Shinusuke's work to protect the innocent shall be for nothing. Who will follow me to rescue the Daimyo and restore him to his rightful place as the heir to Lord Shinusuke?" After he said this he gazed in surprise as the men glanced around uncomfortably.

"Have you no honor then, that you will not help me?" Scott roared at them. Then one of the men came forward and glared at Scott.

"It is not a matter of honor, but of possibility, Lord Akuji," The Captain of the Guard said gruffly. "Why should we fight to recover a boy of three, when his uncle is a man of power. We shall instead look for the boy and give him to his uncle as a sign of our good faith, and allegiance,"

Scott stared in horror as the rest of the guard nodded, then his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Very well then, if this is the way you show your allegiance to Lord Shinusuke then I cannot stop you," Scott said, then raised a hand in warning. "But, remember this well, as long as I live the Nashimoto shall survive, and no man among you will sleep safely." Having said this Scott spat at the guard captains feet, walked to the horse paddock, placed his saddle on his black horse, and rode from the compound, stopping only to throw a flaming torch into the Daimyo's palace. A short while later the palace burst into flames.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Scott Schwartzstern led his horse up the gangway onto the merchant ship he had booked passage on. The last of his family had committed seppuku rather than subject themselves to Lord Shinji's reign. Over the past year since Lord Shinji had been proclaimed Daimyo many things had occurred in Japan. The remnants of the Nashimoto clan had petitioned the emperor for redress of the wrongs the Edo troops had committed, but they had been rejected, and in desperation had launched an assault of their own on Edo Palace. When it failed they had returned to their homes, and the head of the family had called Scott in and ordered him to depart the country.

Scott had hunted the Nakijima clan to near extinction but had found no sign of Kevin O'Connell or the Daimyo's children. Finally he agreed to his clan leader's demand, and had booked passage to Europe. When he glanced back at Japan as the ship sailed out of the port, he saw the port burning. The Lord of Edo had become the Shogun, and no gaijin was permitted to live in the empire.

Scott walked to the bow of the ship and as he watched the sun set, swore an oath that one day he would return and cleanse Japan of the Nakijima, Especially Kevin O'Connell.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Scott glanced up and saw all of the Senshi staring at him in awe. All of them that is, except for Sailor Jupiter who was again staring at Kevin with death in her eyes.

"Wow, you really were a Samurai hundreds of years ago?" Sailor Chibi-Moon blurted out, only then realizing where the information he had given her about the scabbard had come from.

"Wait a minute," Sailor Mars said, looking between Kevin and Scott. "If you swore to wipe every member of the Nakijima ninja clan from the face of the Earth, why is he still around, let alone hanging around with you?" She said pointing at Kevin.

Kevin coughed and looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, you see I'm not an actual member of the Nakajima ninja clan," he said looking uncomfortably at Sailor Jupiter who was still glaring at him. "I was friendly with them for about 200 years before the attack on Lord Shinusuke but the fact that they accepted the contract to destroy every man, woman, and child of the man's family kind of drove us apart. They themselves have been after me for the last 230 years since I just happened to help the only heir of the old lord escape with his sister. The main reason that the Nashimotos could not find the two kids I spirited away was that they didn't think to look in Ireland. Little Ryonusuke was raised in my castle there until he was 20, then he made his way back to Japan. He led an army against the forces of his uncle, and regained control of his father's lands. Michiko stayed with me in Ireland until she died in 1715."

The look in Sailor Jupiter's eye's hardened, then softened a little when she saw the pain in his eye's when he mentioned the girl dying.

"That still doesn't answer the question of why both of you are still around," Sailor Uranus said flatly, as if she still didn't believe the explanation Kevin had given them.

"Yeah," Sailor Jupiter added belligerently. "Why didn't one of you kill the other the next time you met?"

Scott looked at Kevin who was looking a little uncomfortable, then laughed shortly.

"Well that meeting took place in the late 1790's..," he began.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Paris, France 1795

Scott Schwartzstern walked sedately through the square as he tried to block out the sound of the crowds cheering as "Madame le Guillotine" claimed victim after victim. He shuddered slightly as the pitch of their cries grew louder, then were cut off by the intervening buildings. As he proceeded down the small side street, he felt an all too familiar tingling sensation at the back of his neck and slipped into a doorway. Then he caught a flash of red and saw a tall red-haired young man wearing a black greatcoat and tricorn hat, come out of a building several yards down the street. The man looked his way for a moment, then shrugged and went on his way in the opposite direction. Scott swore when after waiting a while he realized that the man was someone he recognized. He smiled grimly and made his way after the man, drawing his sword from his coat. He was almost to the Seine when he heard a voice from the shadows in an alley.

"Scott old man, whatever are you doing in this neighborhood," Kevin O'Connell said chuckling a little at his old friend's look of surprise. "I would think that you would still be living in the orient," Scott's eyes burned with hatred at these words.

"Kevin O'Connell, for the crimes of your clan against mine I shall destroy you," Scott said bringing his katana to high guard.

"Really Scott old bean, what are you talking about?" Kevin said while drawing his ninja-to from his greatcoat and shrugging the coat off. "My clan as you call it has never been near Japan let alone committed crimes against the Nashimoto."

"You know very well what I'm talking about you honorless worm!" Scott grated then rushed forward swing for Kevin's neck.

Kevin parried the stroke, then glared at his opponent as he forced the swords away from himself. "Honorless...? How dare you...?" He grunted, wrenching his sword around. "And you know so much about my honor, eh? I'll take many things from a man who was at one time my friend, but accusations of having no honor is not one of them," Kevin smiled at Scott, then slashed at his arm forcing him to jump back out of the way to avoid being literally disarmed.

Scott smiled viciously in return then struck repeatedly, forcing Kevin into a narrow side street. Kevin jumped backward as he parried the vicious cuts, trying to avoid the blade as well. Finally, his back came up against the wall. Grimly, he set his jaw and after his last parry struck back, forcing Scott to give ground. Neither man spoke, saving their breath for the extremely serious task of staying alive. As Kevin drove Scott backward toward the mouth of the alley, Kevin slipped on some garbage and barely blocked Scott's attack as he followed up his advantage.

Kevin grunted as he heaved himself back to his feet, and drove Scott into an alley even narrower than the one they had just left. Very quickly, Scott found himself with his back to the river as he was driven further back. Stepping onto the bank he gave ground further until they both were standing on a narrow ledge only two feet wide. As both men realized their position, they backed a little away from each other as if by mutual agreement to let the other regain their balance though it was nothing of the sort. When they were sure of themselves they continued fighting neither man gaining the upper hand until more than half an hour, and three miles from the beginning of the fight, they found themselves across the river from Notre Dame. Glancing at the massive building they both stopped, saluted the building, and by mutual consent walked half a mile from the cathedral. Then they resumed their combat driving each other away from the building.

As the reached a bend in the river Kevin was driving Scott further downstream when he heard an odd note in the ring of the sword's clashing together. As he puzzled this over in his mind he raised his sword to parry the stroke Scott had aimed at his side. When the swords came together there was an extremely odd note to the ring of steel on steel. Then he stared in shock at what remained of the two swords as they were surrounded in a cloud of metal fragments.

Both men stared at the remnants of the two swords in disbelief, then Kevin looked from his hilt to Scott's then back to his own for a second then started laughing. Soon he was laughing so hard he could barely stand. Scott continued to stare at the hilt for a moment, then glanced up at Kevin, and froze in surprise as he remembered the last time he had seen this occur.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The system wide Martial Championships were a test of skill and ability with arms of all members of the military as well as the planetary knights and Senshi. Each year the people had gathered to decide whom the best warriors were. Gerrek himself had entered into the sword dueling competition for since his 15th birthday made him eligible. At age 17 he had won the championship for the first time and defeated the current champion, Prince Siegmund Drakkar IV of Neptune. The following year saw the same match up, and Prince Siegmund had emerged as the victor. This pattern had continued for two more years until in the final championship match before the end of the Silver Millenium.

The first two points had been evenly divided between them both and the final bout had lasted for three-quarters of an hour before, during a particularly heated exchange of blows, both swords had exploded due crystallization. At that point the bout had been called a draw, as was the championship. In the history of the Championships, they held the record for the longest bout, as well as the only draw ever recorded. That had been the final straw, and the Martial Championship Board had honored them both by giving them the rank of grand master, not incidentally forcing them both to retire from competition. They had been friends since the second bout had reversed the results of the first. The fact that they were both Planetary Knights had only made their friendship stronger over the years.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

As these memories faded from his mind, he realized that the reason for the memory coming to the surface was not just the situation he found himself in. He realized that he had subconsciously recognized Drakkar in Kevin centuries before when they had met for the first time. He shook his head to clear the remaining memory fragments and saw Kevin lying on the ground still laughing. His friend's position on the ground as well as his laughter finally got to Scott, who started laughing silently, then finally broke into deep chuckles as his friend started rolling around still laughing. After a few more minutes of this, Scott noticed two city guards walking toward them. Walking over to Kevin he nudged him with his foot then assisted him to his feet. They nodded to the guards as they walked past them, then returned to Kevin's lodgings.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Over the next two days the story of what had happened to each of them in the intervening years since they had last seen each other came out. It was only when Kevin related the story of what had happened to the Princess Michiko ten years after their arrival in Ireland, that Scott's anger returned to him. As he stormed around the apartment, Kevin watched him closely, then flinched when Scott spun around, and glared at him.

"Who would do this kind of thing?" he grated out looking for answers to the reasoning behind the fact that the Princess had been left stretched out on their bed, and disemboweled during one of Kevin's rare market trips without her. Kevin's eyes still held the horror of the memory of his discovery on his return that night.

"That would be Damian Rochefort, the one and only student I ever had the misfortune of teaching," Kevin said, his voice becoming gravelly as he remembered the man. "When I wouldn't teach him the more advanced patterns of the Nakijima sword techniques he accused me of reserving them for the purpose of eliminating him when he wasn't expecting it. The note he left in a pouch attached to the dagger driven into Michiko's neck said that it was a warning that for my 'treachery' he would destroy everything dear to me, then kill me in 'the slowest, most painful way' he could find," Kevin shrugged at that comment.

"All I have noticed is that over the last 70 years three of my very close friends have died from unnatural causes, and Rochefort left notes somewhere on their bodies to prove it to me," Scott shivered at the implacable look on Kevin's face when he said this. "Five years ago he made and attempt to have a few of the benighted fools who have become his acolytes kill me. Unfortunately for them I have never been a heavy sleeper, and one of the idiots actually poisoned me, then bragged about it in a bar I frequent and I showed him my disfavor later that day. He didn't poison anyone else after that, but then it's rather difficult to poison someone if you don't have any hands," Kevin was grinning evilly as he said this last. Scott nodded approvingly at the punishment meted out.

The two men spent the next few years chasing Rochefort, until in the spring of 1808 Scott received a message from a friend in North America that something had happened to the caretakers of his homestead in the colonies. He had left shortly after the message was received. Kevin found information pointing to Rochefort's influence in some of Napoleon's policies. Since he couldn't find any sign Rochefort, nor had there been any for ten years, he finally started to experience boredom in the search. To relieve his boredom, Kevin finally decided to by himself a commission in the British Army.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Kevin and Scott paused when they heard someone being sick and looked over to see Sailor Chibi-Moon and Sailor Moon standing in the bushes, losing their lunches. Looking around at the other Senshi, Kevin noticed that they all looked a little green except for Sailor Jupiter who was staring angrily at him again. Shrugging good-naturedly, Kevin waited patiently as they regained their composure. Finally, Sailor Mars looked enquiringly at Kevin when she recovered.

"You just stopped looking for this guy, and he left you alone until now?" She asked, surprised and very doubtful. "Why is he coming after your friends now then?"

Kevin smiled at the questions. "It's rather simple really," He said, glancing over at Sailor Jupiter who was making him even more uncomfortable by glaring at him. Then he noticed that Sailor Mercury was staring at Scott, and smirked a little in amusement at the angry glare his friend was sending at the two moon cats. "You see he did continue to come after my friends. In fact one of his minions was in love with me at one point. Unfortunately, she was a spy for Napoleon during the Peninsular War, and when I found out, I tried to convince her that she would be better off becoming a double agent. She didn't react to it that well, but then considering she had died after being raped by British Soldiers during the Hundred Years War, I really can't blame her that much for her hatred of all things British. When I told her that I knew of her connection to Rochefort, and told her my real name, not the name I had been going under, she became horrified, and fled the country. I later eliminated the rest of her network but she never returned, so I don't know why she ran off. I still miss her sometimes."

Jupiter looked at him in surprise and anger at this last comment. "Who was this 'Paragon' that you can't forget her."

Kevin glanced over in surprise at the anger he heard in the tall senshi's voice. "It doesn't really matter anymore. Most people just called her Annie," He shrugged as if it were extremely unimportant. Then he glanced down at his watch and swore violently. It was almost 4 p.m. and he still had to get back to his apartment for his date.

Glancing at the surprised Senshi, he smiled apologetically. "I guess that is about enough to think about for one day, isn't it?" He asked looking over at his friend. At Scott and Sailor Moon's nods, he smiled. "Then I guess I'll be seeing you Scott old buddy. Ladies, it has been truly an honor meeting you. Meri and Hadria..," at this Sailor Neptune and Uranus jumped. "I will see you two in a couple of days after I finally get used to the idea that I have a sister. 'Til then, see ya!!"

With that he threw something to the ground and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared he was gone and Mercury's computer couldn't pick him up. The Senshi shrugged, said their good-byes to Scott, and left the shrine grounds. They walked down the street for a few minutes, then before they got to any busy streets they slipped into an alley near an old warehouse. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, they detransformed and went their separate ways. On the roof of the warehouse, a man in a black leather duster and a black Stetson watched Makoto walk angrily toward her apartment. Only two words escaped his mouth as he realized the trouble he was in.

"Oh boy."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Hotaru and Chibi-Usa walked down the street smiling happily as they went along. Now that the events of the previous day were cleared up they could go and talk to Scott and get more information on the scabbard he had given them. As they neared the store though, they slowed down as another problem dawned on them.

"How are we going to explain to him why we didn't show up for our meeting yesterday Hotaru?" Chibi-Usa wailed as they turned the corner.

Hotaru smirked at her friend, then smiled reassuringly. "We'll just tell him I was sick yesterday, and we lost the business card. He'll understand completely."

"Okay," Chibi-Usa said, still unconvinced.

The bell rang as they opened the door and walked into the shop. After they gave Scott their explanation, he smiled reassuringly a pulled the notes Kevin had left with him for them. After giving them some more information he made an appointment to see them again on Saturday when Kevin could explain to them more of the scabbards history.

As he watched them leave, he didn't hear his phone ringing, and Kevin hung up deciding that he shouldn't leave the information that he could now recognize the Sailor Senshi in their secret identities on Scott's answering machine.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"I'm going to KILL HIM!!!!!"

Makoto was cursing and yelling as she changed to get ready to meet Kevin. She was still in shock after the revelations this morning. First she found out that the person they thought was a serial killer from the Negaverse was one of the Planetary Knights like Tuxedo Mask. Then she found out that her new boyfriend was 720 years old. The horror she had felt at this revelation had been quickly replaced by outrage that he had never told her anything about this and had been hiding out in her high school.

"Well we'll see about that," she muttered to herself as she got dressed. "Dirty old man, chasing after young girls,"

As she finished dressing a photograph caught her eye. It had been taken three days before, on their last date. They had gone to an amusement park and on one of the rides Makoto had been so startled she had jumped onto his lap, and then the flash had gone off. For the rest of the ride she had stayed right where she was, and they had held hands for the rest of the day. As she looked at the picture she started to experience doubts for the first time since his age had been revealed at the meeting.

A voice in the back of her mind asked "What, you expected him to tell you he was 703 years older than you after knowing you for three weeks? So what is so awful about him hiding his age? Come on Makoto get real, if he had said something like that you would have thought he was out of his mind. Either that or trying to get rid of you," Makoto thought a little more about it and then thought of the other reason that she had been enraged. "Well he may not be to blame for not telling me that he was that old, but what about those girls. How am I supposed to compete with the memory of a princess, or one of his own kind?"

The same voice responded, "You never know until you ask him how he feels. And you have the perfect opportunity to find out tonight. So go to the movie with him, then when you get him alone her for the usual after date snack nail his butt to the wall," Smiling maliciously to herself, Makoto finished getting ready and headed for the door.

As she left, only one other thought ran through her mind. "Really Makoto, you must stop talking to yourself."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Kevin was waiting outside the theater, wondering if Makoto would be standing him up. He wouldn't blame her if she did, but the waiting was killing him. He smirked as the improbability of that happening struck him. Then he saw her walking up the street and shivered at the cold look she gave him as she held out her hand for the movie ticket. Shrugging acceptance of these circumstances, he handed Makoto the ticket and followed her into the theater.

Even though they had both been looking forward to seeing the movie, neither of them paid much attention to the film as they kept glancing at each other, wondering when the other was going to make the first move. Finally, as the movie ended and they were leaving the theater, Makoto spoke up.

"Kevin, we need to talk," she said silently kicking herself for using such a cliche phrase.

"Okay, how 'bout we go to your place?" Kevin replied, wondering how she was going to bring up his age without telling him she was a member of the Sailor Senshi. At her nod, they walked the two miles to her apartment building in silence. When they arrived at the door, Makoto unlocked it and entered without saying a word. After removing their shoes they walked through the living room and into the kitchen where Makoto handed him a pitcher of iced tea, and a plate of cookies.

Walking back into the living room they both sat down and stared at each other neither wanting to be the first to speak. Finally Kevin got tired of the silence.

"You said you wanted to talk, Makoto. What is this all about?" He asked looking straight at her. Makoto blushed under the pointed regard then cleared her throat.

"Well, you see Kevin...Um... I..," She stumbled trying to come with a way to ask him about his age and the princess. Finally she gave up any notion of subtlety. "Kevin, how old are you?" She asked, then blushed hotly at how rude it sounded for her to ask that.

Kevin smiled encouragingly then laughed self-consciously. "Well Makoto, I could probably laugh that off and answer it by asking you how old I look, but you actually want to know, don't you?" At her nod, Kevin sighed, then inhaled and let it out, trying to stay calm and answer all the questions she was probably going to have. "To be completely honest with you Makoto, in October I'll be 720," At her intake of breath, he held up his hand. "Now I know, that seems impossible, but strange as it may seem, I was born to Shamus and Meghan O'Connell in Donegal, Ireland in the year 1279. In 1296 our British overlords conscripted levies from our county and I chose to go in place of my father who had been injured in the last war and was being recalled."

"The levies had been called up because, the Scot's were rising against the English lords set over them. As we marched from our landing site on the coast, we heard rumors of the English king having restored the right of Prima Noctum. No man I know of would permit this right of the nobility to go unchallenged, but we were being called up to put down the 'rebellious' Scots. Needless to say this did not sit well with us," Looking over at Makoto he saw her nodding in understanding and continued.

"The long and the short of it was that on a moonless night when we were still many miles from the enemy, we walked out of camp as if we were going to the jakes, and just kept walking. We kept walking until we met up with some of the scouts from the Scottish army. After they tested us to make sure we weren't British spies, they brought us to the captain of one of the groups, and we were told where to bed down. The next day we marched 5 miles to the plains at Sterling, where we first caught sight of the British soldiers. We were heavily out numbered but we were extremely confident, especially since our Scottish allies assured us we had a surprise waiting for the enemy," Kevin took a sip of his iced tea, then continued.

"The battle was going extremely well for us, and I was in the middle of the fighting, when I felt a searing pain in my chest. I looked down, and saw an arrow sticking out of me. Then as I pulled the arrow out, I felt a rush of pain and everything went black. Scott tells me that I was shot through the heart and left for dead. When I woke up, I was lying in a cave some distance from the field and there was a fire burning next to me. When I sat up a strong hand helped me and then released me as the man who had dragged me from the field stepped around in front of me. I was surprised to see that it was the captain I had met earlier who had taken my friends and I into his unit. The only thing he said was 'Well my young immortal, you're going to need a lot more training to keep your head on your shoulders.' After that he laughed, and since I felt extremely tired, I let myself fall into a deep, dreamless sleep."

When he finished his he saw that Makoto had been listening intently with some understanding in her eyes. Then he saw her jerk a little as she remembered another question she had. She smiled a little shyly at him, started to ask him her question in a high squeaky voice, then cleared her throat and tried again. "If you've lived that long, you must have met any number of girls," She said hesitantly. "I can't understand why you would be interested in me. What makes me so special after knowing and loving princesses?" 'oops' Makoto thought to herself as she finished that.

"To answer your question, I'll have to show you something," he replied taking her hand and leading her to the bathroom. When they arrived he pointed to her reflection in the mirror. "I want you to look at yourself," After ensuring that she had done so, he drew and medallion out from under his shirt. Pressing a hidden catch on the side he opened the medallion to reveal two very old looking miniature portraits. He then handed the medallion to Makoto. Each image was of a girl. The first was a very old portrait that was faded with age. The second did not appear as old and was done in a style indicative of the early Edo period. Kevin smiled as she stared at the portraits, then started to chuckle softly as her face became confused.

Laying soothing hands on her shoulders he lifted the medallion from her hands then turned it to face the mirror. "Now, I want you to compare the images to your reflection. As Makoto looked from the portraits to her reflection, she was startled to realize one extremely obvious fact. Except for their clothes and hairstyle both of the girls in the portraits looked exactly like her. "The girl on the left is the Princess Michiko of the Hokkaido Prefecture," Kevin explained, looking down sadly at the portrait. "I have no idea who the other is, I only know that the week after I became immortal I had dreams about fighting and dying beside that girl. I don't know who she is, but I do know this. Everything I know about her, and that I knew about Michiko, matches perfectly with you. Down to the last nuance of personality," He shrugged at her bewildered expression. "I don't know why I showed you those pictures or if you will ever understand this, but if you ever need help, or even just a friend, call me and I'll do anything I can." Nodding to himself as the confusion in Makoto's eyes lessened a little, Kevin placed his medallion back inside his shirt and smiled as he patted her shoulder reassuringly. Then he led her back to the living room.

"Well I know you have some things to think about so, I'll say good night," he said as he put his coat back on. "Take care of yourself Makoto," With that he walked to the door. Then a smile curved his lips as he turned back and tossed back at her. "By the way, I liked the Green Mini-Skirt and pink bow, they suit you," With that he walked out shutting the door behind him.

Makoto was in a daze as she cleaned up the living room and got ready for bed. It wasn't until she was in bed and almost asleep that the full meaning of his parting shot registered. She sat bolt upright in bed and stared at the mirror on her dressing table.

"WHAT?????" she gasped as she realized what he had meant.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to Ms. Ruthie Grant for her assistance in figuring out how to salvage Kevin and Makoto's relationship without making it sound too easy. Also thank to Ray Coldiron for his assistance with the fighting scenes.

In case you're wondering we started writing this story in July of 1997 and since then a lot of things have changed. Drakken getting out of the Navy being the biggest of the changes. We hope you like this so far and will accept constructive criticism gladly. All spelling and grammar errors are due to unknown spelling of Japanese Transliterations and Micro$oft not making a Grammar checker for fiction writers. Well until next time.

Drakken & Stacko


	6. Kidnapping I

1Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

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Chapter Five - Kidnapped part I

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

April 28, 1999, Tokyo, Juuban Ward

It was a bright, sunny afternoon at Chibi-Usa and Hotaru's school. That day, they had showed their teacher the progress they had made in the week since they had received the assignment. They showed their teacher the scabbard and the notes they had received from Scott and what he had told them when they got the scabbard. The teacher congratulated them on their progress and left to talk to the other students.

When the teacher left, they both dropped their happy faces and went back to talking about what they had found out about Scott and Kevin yesterday. Discovering that Scott was really the adopted first Prince of Minerva, and Kevin, who they found out was Makoto's current boyfriend, was really the first Prince of Neptune was a little hard to take. What really got to the girls was, finding out that Scott and Kevin were both immortal, that Scott had been alive since the fall of the Silver Millennium, over two thousand years ago, and that Kevin has been alive for about seven hundred and twenty years. What scared both of them the most though, was when Scott told them of the price of their immortality; having to kill others in order to stay alive. They talked about all that until they had to leave school.

They were walking to Hotaru's house in silence, when Hotaru broke that silence.

"I'm glad that you were able to spend a couple of days at my house, Chibi-Usa-chan," Hotaru said.

"Yeah, me too," Chibi-Usa replied. "It took some persuasion, but Mrs. Tsukino said it was okay."

"I'm glad. You know, I can't believe that Schwartzstern-San is from the Silver Millennium, and has been alive since it's destruction," Hotaru said, wonderingly.

"It mustn't have been easy for him to be around waiting for the others to be reborn while other people were out to kill him," Chibi-Usa said, thinking of all the time that he had been alive.

"Yeah," Hotaru replied, agreeing that it must have been difficult for him.

They continued walking until they heard a woman screaming for help. Chibi-Usa and Hotaru looked at each other and then made their way toward the sound to see what the trouble was. When they looked around the corner of a building, to look down an alleyway, they saw a man dressed in casual clothing, who looked to be in his twenty's, holding a Rapier in an offensive stance. His opponent was a youngish looking woman of around sixteen, dressed in a high school girl's uniform and defending herself with an iron bar.

Chibi-Usa and Hotaru looked at each other and nodded to each other. They made sure that no one was going to see them and then transformed.

"Moon crystal power!"

"Saturn planet power!"

Sailor Saturn then called the others to tell them what was happening and where they were. The other Senshi told them to wait until they got there to help. Sailor Saturn and Chibi-Moon watched the fight and hoped the others would hurry up, because the girl looked like she was losing. Then the girl was forced against the wall, and the iron bar was knocked out of her grasp. The man smiled and brought his sword arm back for a final stroke. Sailor Saturn and Chibi-Moon knew they couldn't wait any longer and ran to defend the girl.

When the man brought his sword down, it was blocked by a purple and pink blur. The man looked at his sword and saw a Glaive had blocked it. The man jumped back to see who stopped him. When he saw who it was, he smiled even more.

"For attacking innocent girls with the intent to harm or worse, I am pretty soldier Sailor Chibi-Moon," Chibi-Moon said

"And I am the Melancholic fighter, Sailor Saturn," Sailor Saturn said.

"In the name of the Moon, We will punish you," They both finished.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the babies of the Sailor Senshi," The man said.

"We are not babies!" Chibi-Moon yelled.

"No, but you two are just as gullible," The man laughed.

"What do you mean?" Sailor Saturn asked, looking confused at the comment.

"You'll see," The man replied, laughing even harder as he looked behind them.

Just before Chibi-Moon could ask him what he meant, she heard a zap, and when she turned toward the sound, she saw Sailor Saturn fall to the ground unconscious. She turned to look at the girl behind her and saw that the girl was smiling and holding a Stun-Gun. Chibi-Moon suddenly realized that it was a trap, and that they fallen for it, when the girl brought the Stun-gun to her arm. Then she fell unconscious.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The girl put the Stun-Gun away as Chibi-Moon collapsed to the ground, and the man walked up to her with a smile on his face. He nudged both of the girls with his toe to see if they were really out cold. Then he put his sword away and looked to the girl for instructions on what he should do next. When he didn't receive a response he shrugged.

"We better get going, Annie," Daryl said. "Knowing these two, they probably called the others,"

"Yes. We don't want to confront the others just yet," Annie replied.

Annie reached in her pocket and grabbed a folded piece of paper, a small throwing knife, and some tape. She went over to the two unconscious girls and cut a lock of hair off each girl and taped the hair to the inside of the folded paper and stuck the paper to a pipe by the knife.

"Let's go, Daryl," Annie said as she picked up Chibi-Moon while Daryl picked Sailor Saturn up.

"What about that polearm over there?" Daryl asked.

"Leave it," Annie said as they left through a portal that she created.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

A COUPLE OF MINUTES LATER

Several girls with different brightly colored skirts arrived in the alley and looked around.

"Where are they?" Jupiter asked, looking a little worried.

"They aren't here, or anywhere near here. I'm picking up that there was a Negaverse portal here, and the Silence Glaive is near, but not Sailor Saturn. Other than that, I'm not picking anything up," Sailor Mercury said as she scanned the area.

"Hey, over here!" Sailor Mars shouted.

"What is it?" Sailor Moon asked, as she got closer to where Sailor Mars was standing.

"I found the Silence Glaive. There was also a note near it," Sailor Mars replied.

"What does it say?" Venus asked.

"'Hello Sailor Senshi. As you can see, you are now missing two members. If you want them back unharmed, bring Scott Schwartzstern and Siegmund Drakkar to McKenna Park at midnight, Two days from now.'" Sailor Mars finished.

"That's it?" Jupiter asked.

"Yes, except for a lock of Chibi-Moon and Sailor Saturn's hair," Sailor Mars replied.

"Noooooooo!" Sailor Moon wailed.

"It's all right, Sailor Moon. We'll get them back safely," Sailor Neptune said as she tried to comfort Usagi.

"And when we do, the kidnappers are gonna pay," Sailor Uranus grated angrily.

"Well it looks like we better get Scott and Kevin's help. I think we're going to need it," Sailor Neptune said.

"It's only four in the afternoon, so Scott's shop is still open. We can't go to his shop like we are now though; we would attract too much attention to Scott and ourselves. Since he doesn't seem to know our normal identities, we can't go that way. Our best choice is to call him, but then, it would take awhile to get to a phone much less convince him we are who we say we are. But we still need to tell him what's going on," Sailor Mars said, trying to think of a way they could contact Scott without calling attention to themselves.

"I'll go and talk him," Sailor Mercury volunteered quietly, with a small blush on her cheeks. All the Senshi turned and gave her a surprised look. "We are only a few blocks away from his shop and time is of the essence. Like Sailor Mars said he doesn't know our normal identities. But if one of us has to reveal their identity, the rest are still safe,"

"Or is it that you remember you were engaged to him once, and you want to see him again," Sailor Mercury blushed even more when Venus said that. She knew Venus was only teasing, but that was really close to the reason that she wanted to go see him.

"That's enough Venus, stop teasing her," Sailor Moon said angrily. "You're right, Sailor Mercury, time is of the essence. You go talk to Scott, we'll wait for your call at Mar's temple," Sailor Moon said once Sailor Mercury had regained her composure.

"Thank you Sailor Moon," Sailor Mercury said as she detransformed and grabbed the note from Sailor Mars and made her way to Scott's antique shop.

"Are you sure we should let her go to see Scott alone?" Sailor Mars asked.

"She's in love. I know what it's like to lose someone you loved during the Silver Millennium. So I'm letting her find her love again," Sailor Moon replied, smiling at the look on Sailor Mars' face.

"All right. She really needed someone in her life anyway," Sailor Mars agreed finally.

"Well, we better start heading back to Sailor Mars' shrine to wait for Sailor Mercury's call," Sailor Uranus said, slightly bored as she grabbed the Silence Glaive and waited for the others.

They detransformed and made their way to Rei's shrine. En route to the shrine, Michiru decided to see if she could use the Aqua Mirror to find any answers. The pictures that the mirror showed confused her. It showed Kevin fighting a different man in out of date clothing. The other scenes that it showed were of Kevin and the same man fight with swords in different clothing and in different eras and locations.

Haruka saw the confused look on Michiru's face and went up to her. She put one of her arms around her shoulders to comfort her and asked her what was troubling her. Michiru looked up at her and told her that she had asked the mirror to help locate Chibi-Usa and Hotaru, and all it showed was Kevin fighting a man with swords throughout other eras. It didn't show her where the two girls were or anything about them. Haruka told her that they would try to piece it together at the shrine while they waited for Ami's call.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

At Scott's Shop

It's been a normal day of repair work and business at Scott's shop. He'd had the new windows installed to replace the ones that were broken during his recent fights, and he'd had the door repaired after Austin broke it while entering his shop. He had also ordered replacement display cases, and straightened out everything that was salvageable from the damaged antiques.

He had opened his shop so people could still buy the antiques that he had. The people talked to him about business, and some general information about the antiques that were around his shop. It was a quiet time in his shop at the moment, so he went back to his workshop and went over the estimate of what the rest of his repairs were going to cost him.

When he was almost finished going over what he needed to cover the repair and insurance costs, he heard the chimes that signaled that someone was entering his shop. He glanced at the security monitors by his desk and saw a young girl enter the shop and look around.

She was dressed in a girl's high school uniform, and had hair that came down almost to her shoulders. She reminded him a little of Sailor Mercury, and from what he could tell, she looked a little hesitant to be in the shop. Scott smiled and saved the cost estimate, then walked out to see what the girl wanted.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Ami was nervous. Getting her memories back of the times that she'd had with Gerrek during the Silver Millennium scared her a little. After all, finding out that Scott, the antique dealer, was really Gerrek and that he had been alive since the fall of the Silver Millennium was definitely a shock. The feelings she'd had for him returning to her, at the same time that her memories did, surprised her. She was thinking that maybe she should have gone along with the plan to call him, but she was still trying to figure out why she wanted to visit and tell Scott what happened. Her thoughts stopped circling when she saw Scott come into the shop and walk towards her.

"Can I help you?" Scott asked politely.

"Ah...um...yes," Ami replied nervously.

"What is it you would like?" Scott said, wondering why this girl was so nervous.

"I need your help," Ami said shyly, questioning her reasons for coming.

"Okay. What is it that you need my help with?" Scott said calmly, wondering who she was.

It was then that Ami realized that Scott didn't recognize her in this form. "I need you to help the Sailor Senshi," Ami said, looking to see if she had been overheard.

When she said that, Scott looked at her very suspiciously. He didn't know what or why she said she needed help for the Senshi. "What do you mean? Who are you?" He asked carefully eyeing her, looking for any signs of trouble.

Ami realized that she had to tell him who she was when she saw the look he was giving her. "I'm Sailor Mercury," she said quietly as she looked down to the floor, a little embarrassed.

"Meriel?" Scott asked, surprised. Then, when he pictured Sailor Mercury, Meriel, and Ami, he realized that they were all the same person. After her hesitant nod, Scott took her to the back of the shop to talk more privately. "What happened, Meriel?"

"Ami, my name is Ami now,"

"Ah yes, I see," Scott replied, nodding as he realized that she was giving him her present name. "Please, tell me what happened,"

"Sailor Saturn and Chibi-Moon were kidnapped,"

"What! How did it happen?" Scott asked, stunned.

"We don't know. We got a call from them a short while ago saying that a man was attacking a young girl with a sword. We told them to stay put and wait for us, but when we got there, we found the Silence Glaive and a note. They were gone."

"What did this note say?" Scott asked. Ami handed him the note and he read it. After he got done reading it, he frowned grimly. "Did Talia or Chibi-Moon give you a description of the man attacking the girl?"

"No,"

"What about the girl, was there any sign of her?" He asked next.

"No, but there weren't any bloodstains around so she could have escaped." Ami replied, wondering where this was leading.

"That will make it harder to figure out who did it, but if I'm remembering correctly, I have an idea who it is that's behind this,"

"Who would that be?"

"Can't tell you for sure, we need Ziggy to check this note out,"

"Okay. But how are you going to get hold of him?"

"I haven't known him for 700 years for nothing,"

Scott gave Ami a smile that made her blush a little and then Scott went back to the storeroom and made a call.

"Hey, Ziggy, it's me... Yeah, I'm fine... No, no one has come after my head lately... Ziggy, we've got a problem... No, a Senshi problem... No, I'll tell you when I get there in a few minutes, don't want to talk over the phone... Okay, I'll be there in a little while, bye Ziggy."

After Scott hung up the phone, he went back to find Ami looking around the shop, and asked her if she was willing to go with him to talk to Kevin about what had happened. She agreed but she said that she had to tell the others where she was going. He told her to go ahead and left her alone in the storeroom while he went to get his coat. After she was done updating the others of what was going on, she went to find Scott. She found him in his workshop, putting his sword inside his jacket. She asked him why he put the sword in his jacket, he replied with, "With my kind it's like your American Express Card, you never leave home without it." Then they hopped in Scott's car and headed for Kevin's place.

As they drove down the highway, Scott and Ami started talking about their past relationship. Scott started the discussion after a long silence that started just after they left his shop.

"What do you remember about us from the Silver Millennium?" Scott asked, trying to get a feel for what she remembered without giving too much away.

"Not much really. Mostly what I remember is feelings, and some of the times we were together," Ami replied, blushing a little.

"I'm surprised you even remember me at all," Scott said self-consciously running his hand through his hair.

"Why do you say that?" Ami said, confused.

"Through the years of talking to people about what they knew about reincarnation, it didn't look too promising that you would remember anything of your previous life at all," he responded, trying to gauge her reaction.

"We don't remember all that much about our lives in the Silver Millennium unless something triggers the memory," she said, then looked at him closely. "It must have been hard for you, going through the years, always thinking about me. Not knowing when I'd be reborn."

"Yes it was. It took over 200 years and continual talks from my first teacher before I tried having a relationship with another woman," Scott replied softly.

"What happened?" She asked curiously.

"We were attacked and she was killed in a painful, and extremely degrading way, five days before our wedding," he replied.

"Oh, my..." Ami gasped, shocked at the images this statement conjured up.

"Because of that, I began what I call my 'Dark Times'," Scott said, ignoring her gasp.

"'Dark Times'? What do you mean by that?" Ami asked nervously, wondering what he could have done to make him call them that.

"I became a ruthless killer for almost 200 years. It wasn't until I killed a defenseless young child that I snapped out of it. That and severe counseling from others of my kind that took sympathy on me. I've been punishing myself ever since," Scott said the last sentence quietly that Ami almost didn't hear it.

"Don't punish yourself too much. I mean you realized what you were doing was wrong and you regret it. That means you are still good at heart," She said, smiling reassuringly.

"Thanks Mer... Uh, Ami. I appreciate it," Scott replied, smiling back at her.

"What are your feelings towards me now?" Ami asked, trying to be as nonchalant about the question as she could be.

"To tell you the truth, I'm scared," Scott replied. "When you died, a part of me felt like it had died also. I have attempted to have a total of three serious relationships since you died, but they all ended with her death shortly before we got married. I've been in love with you all these years, and now that I find you alive again, I'm scared to death of what might happen to you, with us, with everything. It took me a long time to admit that I loved you at all the first time, but now I don't want you to get hurt just because you're around me. I'm still in love with you, Ami, and I don't want any harm to befall you,"

After this, silence fell for a while, then Scott turned to look at Ami and saw that she was deep in thought. Scott left her to her thoughts as he continued driving towards Kevin's place. After a few minutes, Scott was about to say something when he felt a hand on his left arm. He turned and saw Ami with a small smile on her face.

"Hello, I'm Ami Mizuno," Ami said. After she saw his confused look on his face, she continued. "If we're going to have a relationship, it would be best if we started from the beginning,"

"You do know what you will be getting yourself into, don't you?" Scott asked, worried.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have said what I just did," Ami replied confidently.

"Okay, sounds good enough to me," Scott said as he smiled in reply. "Nice to met you Ami, I'm Scott Schwartzstern."

"Hello, Scott," Ami replied, smiling back shyly

"We'll be arriving at Kevin's soon," Scott said after shaking his head ruefully at her greeting.

Ami looked out the window and saw that they were driving towards a German castle. She recognized the castle from one of her history books. "We're going there?" Ami asked surprised.

"Yes, this is one of the many houses Kevin owns around the world," Scott replied.

Scott pulled up to the gate guard and then continued on up to the castle when the guard let him through. Upon reaching the front part of the castle, he parked the car and got out of the car and saw that Ami was still in the car starring at the castle. He walked around the car and opened the door for her.

"Would my lady care to go inside?" Scott said formally.

Ami snapped out of her trance and looked at Scott. She saw him standing there with his hand out, looking like he was waiting for her to do something. When she remembered the words he'd just said, a small blush came to her cheeks as she took his hand and stepped out of the car. Scott placed her hand on his arm as he led her to the door, then he knocked on the door twice and waited. Shortly there could be heard the sounds of the lock being undone and then the door being opened. When the door opened, there stood an elderly man, around his late fifties, and dressed in a butler outfit. When the man saw Scott, he smiled.

"Good evening, Master Scott," said the man.

"Evening, Jervis. Is Kevin here?" Scott asked.

"Yes he is, sir. He's in his study right now, I believe you know the way?"

"Yes. How are the grandkids?"

"They are doing well sir, thank you for asking. Jaina loved the gold necklace you gave her for her birthday. She refuses to take it off,"

"I'm glad, please tell her I said hello. We will see you later then Jervis,"

"Very Good, Master Scott," Jervis replied, then returned to the work that he had been doing before they arrived.

Scott and Ami left Jervis in the hall and walked to the study. Before they reached the study, Ami felt Scott stiffening for a moment as they got to the door. Ami was about to ask what it was, when they reached the door and Scott knocked twice then opened the door. Scott let Ami go in first and he followed her and they both saw Kevin sitting at a desk, that had a bunch of papers scattered all over it, working on something that looked important.

"Ziggy," Scott said, smiling at his friend absent wave in reply.

"I see you've already met Sailor Mercury in her secret identity," Kevin said after he looked up and saw who else was in the room with them.

"How did you know I'm Sailor Mercury?" Ami asked, completely surprised.

"I've found that most people, even when they are at their most vigilant still forget to look up," Kevin answered, then smiled at her confused look. "You didn't see me on the roof of the warehouse when you girls all detransformed, did you?" Ami blushed hotly as the implications of this statement hit her.

"So that's why you left in such a hurry," Scott said with amusement in his voice.

"One of them, yes," Kevin said.

"What are you going to do with your knowledge our identities?" Ami asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

"I was going to tell Scotty here, but he didn't answer his phone. So don't worry, I'm not going to reveal your identity to anyone else. I still can't believe that my girlfriend is Sailor Jupiter," Kevin said in shocked tones, then turned when he heard Scott laughing to himself. "What's so funny?"

"If you can't remember it yet, it's not worth telling you then," Scott said, laughing even harder.

"What do you mean by that?" Kevin asked angrily.

"Hey you two, we've got more serious problem then Kevin's love life," Ami yelled at the two men. When Kevin saw the look on Ami's face, he calmed down.

"Sorry, what's the problem?" Kevin asked softly.

"Talia and Chibi-Moon were kidnapped a little while ago by the Negaverse, and we're the ransom," Scott said.

"Do you know who did it?" Kevin asked, looking more alert now.

"I have an idea. Ami can you hand me the note," Scott said. Ami reached into her purse and handed Scott the note, and he then passed it to Kevin. "Read it and see if my guess is correct."

Kevin read the note and his face turned into a frown. His face got a look of anger on it when he saw the locks of hair. He definitely recognized the handwriting. He crushed the note in his hand and threw it to the ground.

"Annette Mouliere," Kevin said angrily

"Annette Mouliere? Who's that?" Ami asked.

"Most people, including myself, call her Annie at her own insistence," Kevin said, angrily muttering to himself about his stupidity in not stopping her when he had the chance.

"Is she after you as well?" Scott asked, surprised.

"Yeah, mostly because I didn't help her destroy the British," Kevin replied shortly. "She took it as a personal insult."

"First Daryl and now Annie. I have a feeling that all the people that you made enemies out of have teamed up to get to you and are dragging everyone else you know down with you." Scott said, shaking his head in dismay.

"Okay, so we know who, but where are they?" Ami asked, disregarding Scott's last words.

"I know someone to ask," Kevin replied, getting a phone number from the Rolodex on his desk.

"Really, who?" Ami asked.

"Can't tell you, it's a secret" Kevin said regretfully.Then he made a phone call. After setting up a meeting, he hung up, and called Jervis into the room.

"Where is this place we're going?" Scott asked as they walked to Kevin's garage.

"It's a bar in Roppongi, one of those out of the way kind of places," Kevin replied get the keys to a rather beaten looking car.

"Ah, I see," Scott said recognizing the car as the one his friend called his 'stealth getaway car'.

"So when do we go?" Ami asked looking uneasily at the ratty interior of the little car.

"Um, it's one of those places where it's also not a safe place for a girl to be either," Kevin said trying to get Ami to stay behind.

"I'm going," Ami said, glaring at the two men sternly.

"Scott, help?" Kevin asked, looking to see if Scott would help him dissuade the girl.

"Sorry, Ziggy. I've learned over the years to never argue with a woman. Besides, I'll be there to watch out for her," Scott said reassuringly.

"All right, I know when I'm on the losing side of a battle." Kevin said, defeated.

Walking up to the car, Kevin noticed that Scott and Ami were holding hands as they walked. He realized that they'd had the talk that he'd tried to get Scott to have with her. He smiled because he realized that they were now closer, he just wondered what they talked about. When they got to the car, Ami climbed firmly into the back seat while Scott and Kevin got into the front. They then headed to the dark depths of Roppongi.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

IN FRONT OF 'THE SNAKE PIT'

All three of them were standing outside the bar waiting for Kevin to tell them what he wanted them to do.

"I'll go in and ask my contact if he knows anything about this. You two wait here until I come back," Kevin said, with a warning look at them both.

"Okay," Scott and Ami both replied in synch.

After Kevin went into the bar shaking his head, Ami looked like she was nervous about something. She looked over at Scott and saw that he was standing quietly against the car. She was wondering how he could be so calm waiting like this, so she decided to find out.

"How can you be so relaxed, knowing that someone has been kidnapped, and that you are relying on someone who would go to a place like this to know something about where they could be?" Ami asked.

"I'm not calm. I've just learned to be able to hide my feelings very well," Scott said, as he walked over to Ami and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just as worried as you are, Ami. I don't fully trust this contact that Ziggy is here to see. But I do know that when a friend of his is in trouble, Ziggy will do everything that he can to help. We just have to wait patiently."

"Okay." Ami said looking up trustingly at Scott.

Scott looked down at her and leaned in to kiss her.

Ami was caught off guard for a moment when Scott started kissing her, but she quickly got into the kiss. They were very deep into the kiss when they heard someone clear their throat. Both of them quickly broke off the kiss at the sound, then blushed a little at being caught. They turned to the sound of the voice, expecting Kevin, but saw four men that looked like gang members, standing there near the door.

"My, wasn't that a lovely scene," said the man that appeared to be the leader.

"What do you want?" Scott asked as he stood in front of Ami.

"We want your money, and your girlfriend." The leader said.

"I don't think so." Scott said angrily, subtly opening his jacket to get his arms a little more room.

"So you want to do this the fun way, huh? Good." said the man with a smile as the other men pulled out knives and he pulled out a pistol.

"Ami, get out of here," Scott said as he got ready to fight.

"But... " Ami said as she was thinking of a way to change and help.

"Get out of here!" yelled Scott at her. She turned and ran into the bar, hoping to get Kevin before those gang members could kill Scott.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

INSIDE THE BAR

Kevin walked into the bar and looked around. The place hadn't changed much since the last time he had been here. The biggest room was full of pool tables that were all being used, off to the right side was the bar, the other side was the table and benches and booths. There were a few video games and slot machines scattered about the place, and the air was filled with cigar and cigarette smoke. Kevin made his way to one of the booths where a lone man was sitting drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. He sat down across from the man and waited. A few minutes later, the man spoke.

"So what brings you around this time?" asked the man, not looking at Kevin.

"I'm looking for a certain person," Kevin said, studiously following the man's example.

"Who might this person be?"

"A female, around twenty years of age, dark red hair, sometimes has an extremely deadly temper. Do you know of anyone that fits that description?"

"I know of one person that fits that description. The person has recently been buying up property in Osaka."

"Anything else?"

"Not much. The person has been known to disappear strangely when they are done with business."

"Thanks. Great talking to you again."

"Do you happen know a girl that is dressed in a high-school uniform, with bluish hair, about your age?" The man asked, looking over Kevin's shoulder in mild surprise.

"Yes, what of it?" Kevin replied, a little confused by the change of subject.

"I think she needs some help. Behind you."

Kevin looked behind him and saw that Ami was being hassled by a group of men by the pool tables. Kevin sighed and got up from the booth to go rescue Ami. As Kevin left the table, the man glanced at his watch, its face covering the inside of his left wrist, concealing a Watcher tattoo.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Ami found herself surrounded by several men when she came in looking for Kevin. The men gathered around her and were trying to get her to go somewhere with them, while others were feeling her up. She was trying to get by them, but they kept pulling her back towards them. She started to cry from fear because of all the strange men around her when she heard a familiar voice.

"Why don't you leave the lady alone?" an angry male voice growled from behind the men surrounding her. "She obviously doesn't like your company," Everyone turned and saw Kevin standing there with a pool stick in his hands.

"What's it to you?" one of the men asked looking at the 'kid' messing with his friends.

"She happens to be a girlfriend to a friend of mine." Kevin replied.

"Then where is this 'friend' of yours to protect her?" another man asked, smiling nastily.

"I would like to know that myself," Kevin muttered to himself then continued louder. "I would like it more if you would just stop doing what you're trying to do, and go on about your business."

"And what would we have been doing? This?" said the man directly behind Ami as he reached for the front of her shirt and ripped it open, revealing her light blue lace bra. The man then groped one of her breasts, fondling it with a challenging look in his eye. All the other men laughed as they watch what was happening and at Ami trying to get out of the man's grasp.

"That was a big mistake, neighbor." Kevin said flatly looking at the man grimly.

"What are you going to do about it, boy?" The man who was fondling Ami asked. He bent down and licked her neck.

"Not too much, really." Kevin said smiling evilly.

With that, Kevin moved quickly and hit the man that was fondling Ami in the face with the pool stick, breaking his nose. Blood spurted all over, some of it getting splattered on Ami's back and neck, and some on her face. When the man released his hold on her, she dove for cover and hid among the pool tables.

When Kevin smiled at the sight of the man on the ground holding his nose, the man's friends tried to gang up on him. He ducked under two pool sticks from opposite sides, resulting in the two men hitting each other. As both men fell, Kevin went on to the next opponent. He smiled as he clubbed the next man with the butt end of the broken pool stick, dropping the man and breaking the rest of the stick in the process.

Then two men suddenly grabbed each of Kevin's arms to hold him down. Kevin saw a third man approaching with a look of pure hatred for Kevin on his face. Kevin broke himself out of the hold the two men had on him,and elbowed the man that had held his left arm in the gut. As the guy folded over in pain, Kevin brought his right knee up and hit him in the head. Kevin then quickly kicked the other guy in the head with the same leg. Both of the men then fell to the floor unconscious. He then heard a gunshot outside.

He saw the third man approaching and he grabbed two pool balls from a nearby table, and threw them at the man's chest. The first one hit while the man blocked the second one, so Kevin threw a third at the guys left knee, which the man failed to block. When the ball hit, there was a sickening crunch as the man went down on his other knee. Kevin threw a fourth ball and hit the guy in the head, causing the man to fall to the ground, unconscious. He looked around and saw that only two more men were willing to stay and fight him.

Kevin saw that they were standing close together on the other side of a pool table. So he just ran towards them and jumped over the pool table and pushed off from it to get more momentum. Then he did a flying kick at one of the men and sent him rolling over the pool table that was behind him. The man landed on his head knocking himself out. Kevin then landed on the pool table, and after rolling away from the cue stick the man tried to hit with did a spin kick, hitting the other man in the chest.That sent the man reeling back until he tripped over one of the bodies on the floor and hit his head on a pool table, knocking him unconscious. Kevin looked around and saw that no one else wanted to fight, so he went looking for Ami.

He found her hiding underneath one of the pool tables at the far end of the room. He helped her out from under the table and saw that she was blushing from embarrassment because of what had happened to her. He saw her trying her best to keep covered with the remains of her blouse.

"What are you doing in here?" Kevin asked, smiling reassuringly at her look of acute embarrassment.

"I came to get you," Ami replied.

"What for?" Kevin asked, surprised.

"When you left, we were attacked by some gang members. Scott is still outside, fighting four armed men," Ami said, remembering her original reason for coming into the bar.

"Okay. Let's go see if we can help," Kevin said as he noted the fear in her voice.

As they ran to the door, Kevin smirked a little when he noted that Ami was barely managing to keep her blouse together as she tried to keep up with him.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

EARLIER, OUTSIDE IN THE ALLEY

"That wasn't smart, telling her to leave. Now we have to hurt you more," The leader said as he saw Ami run into the bar.

"You can try, but I don't go down very easily," Scott replied, firmly.

"That's just the way we like it," The leader said, cheerfully motioning the other gang members to move forward.

Two of the four men came charging in to slash at Scott with knives. Scott dodged both of their attacks and pushed them away. The closer of the two men turned and thrust his knife at Scott. Scott side stepped the thrust then grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted it until it broke. The man fell to his knee's, holding his broken wrist, screaming in pain. Scott then hit him in the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

The second guy came at Scott again, swinging his knife wildly.Scott dodged the best he could, but he could feel the knife hit him twice in the arm. After the last thrust that the man attempted, Scott grabbed his arm and yanked. The man shot by Scott and Scott added a little push, which sent him into the wall behind him, head first. The man landed on the ground out cold.

Scott turned to the last of the men to see what they were up too. He saw that the leader nod to the other man, and the man smiled as he pulled out two more knives and stepped forward.

"You were lucky to defeat those two. Not many people have been able to do that. Now you will face me, and I have never lost," the other man said. The man threw one of his knives towards Scott, but Scott just ducked under it.

"Strike one," Scott said as he stood again. The man got mad and threw the second of his knives. Scott just swatted it out of the way. "Strike two," The man got furious and threw the third one. Scott just caught the knife and looked at the man. "Guess what? Strike three."

Scott knew the man threw with his right arm, so he threw the knife back and it stuck into the man's right shoulder. The man screamed in pain as he tried to remove his knife from his shoulder. Scott walked up to him while he was distracted and punched him in the gut. When the folded over his fist, Scott hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out.

Scott then turned to the leader just as he heard a gun go off. He felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He smiled at the leader evilly when he saw that the barrel of his gun was smoking then looked down at his shoulder, seeing a large red spot growing there.

"You're not so tough," The leader said as he walked up to Scott and pointed the gun at him. "So, what are you going to do now?"

The leader saw a glint of light that reflected off something and felt something hit his gun. When he looked down at his gun and saw that it was now in two pieces, cut right above his hand. He looked at Scott and saw that he had a katana in his right hand.

"What? How did you get that sword? Where did it come from?" The leader asked.

"One of life's many secrets," Scott replied as he hit the man in the Solar Plexus with the hilt of his sword. When the man bent over, because of the hit, Scott punched him in the head, with the hand that held the sword. The man was out cold shortly there after. "And one you'll never know."

Scott looked around and saw all of the men laying on the ground unconscious. He decided to move them so the police wouldn't see them. Then he realized that he was regaining the use of his left shoulder. He put his sword in his sub-space pocket and lifted the leader over his right shoulder. He carried him to a Dumpster and threw him in. Scott then threw the other three men in there and closed the lid. He then sensed the presence of another immortal nearby, turned around and saw that Kevin and Ami were coming out of the bar in a hurry.

When Scott took a look at Ami, he realized that something had happened. Ami was walking behind Kevin, like she was trying to hide something. Then he saw that there was blood splattered on the left side of her face, neck, and shoulder. He also saw that she was trying to hold her blouse together in front. Then Kevin and Ami walked up to Scott.

"Hey Scott old buddy, what were you doing?" Kevin asked.

"Taking out some trash. Why?" Scott replied.

"I thought you said that you would watch the kid here." Kevin said.

"What happened?" Scott asked.

"She got attacked by some of the scum inside while she was trying to find me." Kevin replied.

"What!" exclaimed Scott as he looked over at Ami and saw her looking at the ground with a dark shade of red on her cheeks. He was about to continue when he heard Ami gasp. He looked at her again and saw she was starring at his chest.

"Oh my God, you've been shot!" exclaimed Ami as she went up to him.

"Uh, Ami, it's all right," Scott said trying to down play his injury.

"No it's not! You're probably just going into shock," Ami said.

"Ami, it's all right," Scott said one last time but failed as she ripped open his shirt, over the wound, and inspected the wound. Scott noticed that when she went to rip open his shirt, she lost her hold on her blouse all together and he got an eyeful of her chest.

"How can that be?" Ami asked, as all she found was a little red mark where the bullet apparently hit entered. The mark slowly faded from view as she watched.

"I tried to tell you, but you seem to have forgotten that I heal quicker than any normal person. Also I really enjoy the view, but I don't think you want anyone else to see that. Besides you might catch cold." Scott said, chuckling softly as she started to blush even more. Ami realized that her blouse was hanging open, showing off her chest. She blushed even hotter at both comments. She quickly covered herself up, and turned when she heard Kevin snickering.

"This isn't funny!" Ami yelled at Kevin. Kevin quit chuckling, but you could tell that he was still laughing on the inside. Ami suddenly felt something resting on her shoulders. She looked behind her and saw that Scott had covered her with his jacket.

"Here, use this to cover yourself," Scott said calmly. Ami quickly put the jacket on and closed it up. She suddenly realized that something was missing from his jacket.

"Where's your sword?" Ami asked, confused.

"In my Sub-space pocket," Scott replied.

"Hate to disturb your private moment there, you two, but we've got to get out of here," Kevin interrupted, motioning to the car.

"Where are we going now?" Ami asked, still blushing at the earlier comment.

"To my penthouse in Ginza," Kevin replied nonchalantly. Ami gasped then looked at Scott for confirmation.

"Okay, let's go," Scott said, unconcerned. As they headed to Kevin's car, Kevin smiled when he saw that Scott put his arm around Ami while they walked together.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

AT THE PENTHOUSE

Ami stood looking out a window overlooking downtown Tokyo. She saw Tokyo Tower in the distance. When she had entered the penthouse, thankful for private elevators, she was surprised at the size of the rooms. The penthouse covered the entire top floor. She couldn't see how anyone could afford all of that space in this district.

"How can you afford all of this?" Ami asked, gazing wonderingly at the expensive furnishings.

"Well, if you live 700 years, placing money in banks and leaving it there for awhile, and then placing some in stocks and not panicking, after awhile you can acquire an obscene amount of money," Kevin replied smiling at her reaction.

"Oh my," was all Ami could say to that.

"Ami, isn't it time you called your friends. They may be worried about you by now," Scott said, trying to bring her out of her shock-induced daze.

"Okay," Ami said as she slowly went off to a far corner of the room and pulled out her communicator. After a short wait, Usagi's face appeared on it.

"Ami, we've been wondering what happened to you. I've been worried that something bad had happened," Usagi said.

"Well... " Ami tried to talk but was interrupted by Usagi.

"Oh, Ami, did you hear, school is closed down because a water main broke. Oh wait, of course you didn't hear, you've been away," Usagi said.

"Um... " Ami tried to talk but was interrupted again when Usagi noticed the blood on her face.

"Oh my God Ami, is that blood?" Usagi said noticing the stains on Amy's clothes, and getting really worried. "Oh I was right, something bad did happen to you, didn't it."

"It's really... " Ami said as she was interrupted again.

"Are you hurt? Are you okay? Who did that to you?" Usagi asked.

"If you give her a chance to speak, she'll tell you," yelled Rei over the communicator.

"Sorry Ami," Usagi said.

"That's okay Usagi. I'm all right, this is someone else's blood that got splattered on me," Ami said.

"What happened?" Ami heard Makoto say.

"I'll tell you guys later. Right now we need to worry about Hotaru and Chibi-Usa," Ami said.

"What's up?" Rei asked.

"Kevin may know where they are," Ami said.

"Really, where?" Usagi asked.

"Somewhere in Osaka," Ami replied.

"What!?!" everyone exclaimed.

"We all need to get together and plan this out. We're dealing with another immortal here," Ami said

"Well, since school is out for most of us, we were planning on staying at Makoto's for the night. Can you meet us there?" Rei asked.

"Hold on," Ami said. The others saw her turn her head and talk to someone else in the room. In a few moments, she turned back. "Kevin says why not meet here?"

"Where are you?" Minako asked.

"Kevin's penthouse in Ginza," Ami replied.

"Penthouse!" everyone exclaimed, "in GINZA!?!?!?!?!"

"Yes," Ami said smiling a little at their shocked expressions.

"How does he own a penthouse, if he's still in school?" Makoto asked.

"Um, don't forget that he's over 700 years old. He has saved up quite a bit of money," Ami replied.

"Okay. We'll meet there. How do we get there?" Rei asked.

"Scott said that he would pick you guys up if you would call Haruka and Michiru and tell them what's going on," Ami said.

"Okay. Where shall we meet him?" Rei asked.

"How about at the shrine, Rei?" Ami asked.

"Okay, but will he recognize us or should we be in our Senshi form?" Rei asked.

"Go as you want. But if you go in normal attire, I don't think he'll recognize any of you. He didn't recognize me." Ami said.

"We'll wait for him in senshi form," Rei replied.

"See you guys when you get here," Ami said, smiling as she thought of the surprise in store for them when they arrived at Kevin's penthouse.

"Later Ami," Usagi said, then the screen on the communicator went blank. Ami got up and went over to where Scott and Kevin were sitting.

"So, what's the verdict?" Kevin asked.

"They'll meet here after Scott picks them up," Ami said.

"So where do I pick them up?" Scott asked.

"Hikawa Shrine," Ami replied.

"I know where that is. Been past it a couple of times," Scott said.

"Okay," Ami said as she walked with him to the door.

"Are they going to be in Senshi form or normal attire?" Scott asked.

"They said that they would meet you there in Senshi form," Ami replied.

"Well, then I guess I'm off then. I hope I can find them," Scott said as he went and grabbed another jacket out of the closet and left the penthouse. Kevin looked closely at Ami then sighed softly.

"I think you should take a shower before that blood dries to much, Ami. The bathrooms are attached to the bedrooms right down that hall. I'll get you some of Scott's clothes until you can get new ones," Kevin said as he smiled at Ami.

Ami smiled shyly with a small blush on her cheeks then went into one of the rooms to take a shower. Kevin followed after her once he heard the shower start. He got some clothes out of the chest of drawers, then decided not to tell her she had chosen Scott's room. Placing the clothes on the bed, he went back into the living room and looked around. Realizing what Ami's reaction would be when she found out where she was, he started laughing. Still laughing he went into the kitchen and started getting snacks ready for everyone.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Hikawa Shrine

Scott pulled up to the curb next to the shrine and got out of his car. He took a look at the shrine and saw that it was a small one, but he also saw that it was a rather peaceful one as well. He started up the steps when he felt a presence that didn't signify an Immortal, but rather a Pre-Immortal. When he got to the top, he saw that there were four girls, a man, and two cats waiting near the shrine. He glanced around the group and realized that the feeling was coming from the tall, brown-haired girl. When the girls noticed him, they came towards him, then looked at each other waiting for someone to do something. Scott got tired of this quickly and looked around. Seeing Luna, while still keeping an eye on the man since he didn't know who he was, he smiled down at her.

"So Luna, I guess these people are the Princess and her court, except for that guy there," Scott said, with a questioning look. "Who's he?"

"That's right, you haven't met him yet. You would now him as Prince Endymion," said Luna. The man looked surprised that Luna would talk to the person in front of him, much less introduce him by his Silver Millennium name.

"I see," Scott said as he placed his hand out. "It's nice to meet you again, Prince Endymion. Scott Schwartzstern, otherwise known as Gerrek Bontrager, First Prince of Minerva."

"Nice to meet you too," said Endymion as he took Scott's hand and they shook hands. Scott looked at the other girls and noticed that the one who was giving off indications of being a Pre-Immortal was Kevin's girlfriend. He smilled as he thought of the problems that Kevin was going to have in the future. When he was done shaking hands with Endymion, he went over to her.

"And you must be Makoto Kino. Kevin's told me a lot about you. I must shake the hand of the one woman in all of history that can make Kevin O'Connell do what he hates, and then turn around and stop him from getting anything he wants," Scott said as he held out his hand. Makoto was a little taken aback because of what Scott had said, but shook his hand anyway. He then went over to Usagi and did a polite bow. "And you must be Princess Serenity."

"How did you know?" Usagi asked.

"Well, I could say it's because Luna is standing right next to you and I know she is the Princess' advisor, but there just aren't that many people that use that particular hair style, so I just put a few things together and made a guess," Scott replied, smiling. Then he laughed as she blushed. "And you just confirmed it, your highness" He looked around and saw that two members of the group were missing. "Where are Hadria and Meri?"

"They should be here shortly," Usagi said, as she realized he was asking for Haruka and Michiru. As she said that, they heard a car pulling up. A short while later, two people walked up the stairs.

After a brief greeting to everyone else, Scott told them where they were all going and how to get into the private garage. Then they went down to the cars. Haruka and Michiru got into Haruka's sports car and left in flurry of flying gravel. Mamoru took Usagi, Makoto, and Luna with him. Scott took Rei, Minako, and Artemis with him. They got to the hotel in twenty minutes. After parking the cars, they all gathered by the private elevator and Scott took them up to the penthouse.

When they entered the penthouse, the others were shocked at what they saw. They expected the penthouse to be small, not one that took up the entire floor. Scott showed them to the living room, where there were enough couches and chairs for them all to sit down. After they sat down, with Usagi sitting next to Mamoru, Michiru sitting next to Haruka, and all the rest sitting in chairs, Scott looked around for Kevin and found him in the kitchen putting snacks into bowls and pulling the drinks out of the refrigerator. Scott helped him take out the snacks and drinks and smiled a little when he saw Usagi attack the snacks. He saw that Kevin was sitting as far away from Makoto as he could. Then he noticed that Ami wasn't around.

"Where's Ami?" Scott asked Kevin.

"When the kid got out of your bedroom, she went into the library," Kevin replied.

"I'll go get her," Scott said, then froze. "MY ROOM?!?"

Kevin just laughed at the expression on Scott's face as he left the room.

Scott left the group staring at him in confusion, and headed towards the library. He got there and entered it to find Ami sitting reading a book. He smiled ruefully at the way Ami was dressed. She was wearing one of his black, long-sleeved silk shirts, that was partially laced up in the front, a pair of his blue silk boxers, with a big blue towel wrapped around her head. She was sitting in a chair, reading one of Kevin's books. He cleared his throat and chuckled a little when he saw Ami jump. She looked over the top of the book and saw Scott standing there, with his jacket still on, waiting at the door.

"I like the outfit," Scott said, chuckling as he saw Ami blush a little. "The others are here and waiting for you,"

Ami set the book down and walked over to Scott.

"Kevin said I could use some of your clothes, I hope it was all right?" Ami asked.

"It's all right. Wouldn't be proper for you to be sitting out there with your blouse gaping open. You might give Hadria the wrong idea," Scott replied, smiling as Ami blushed again.

When both came into the living room, the others stared at the way Ami was dressed. She just looked down at the floor blushing because of her friends' stares. Scott walked over to the closet and put his jacket in it. When he returned to the chair next to the couch Ami was sitting on, the others stared at him, gasping when they saw the way his shirt looked. They saw the cuts on his sleeves with dark red patches around them and the big red area on his left shoulder with a massive hole torn in it, exposing his shoulder. Scott realized what they were looking at and smiled as he answered their unasked question.

"We got into a little fight while we were looking for information on the kidnappers," He said as he sat down in the chair.

He, and most of the others in the room, got a surprise when Ami got up from the couch and sat on his lap. After a momentary pause in his explanation, he placed his arms around her. Usagi smiled complacently when she saw Ami sitting in Scott's lap, and knew that they had started renewing their relationship.

"Okay, we're all here. Now what did you find out," Haruka said, angry to be apparently wasting time.

"Well, since you want to get down to business," Kevin said. "I figured out that since one of the kidnappers was an immortal called Annette Mouliere, or Annie as everyone calls her, one of my acquaintances might know where she hangs out. It seems she's been buying up property in Osaka lately. So that is probably where they took the missing Senshi."

"Why would she kidnap them?" Michiru asked.

"I figure it was to get back at me, Sis," Kevin replied smiling. Michiru flinched at how easily he had said that. She was still getting use to the fact that she now had an older brother that looked seventeen and was Immortal with many old enemies.

Why would she be getting back at you?" Rei asked.

"When I last saw her, we weren't exactly on good terms," Kevin replied.

"So what are you going to do now?" Haruka asked.

"Well, I figured I would go out tomorrow and talk to certain other people for verification," Kevin replied.

"Why tomorrow?" Rei asked.

"Annie probably figured it would take you guys a lot longer than a few hours to persuade Scotty here to help you out, then get hold of me. So when I find the place where they are, we'll go and rescue the girls," Kevin said confidently.

"That sounds nice and simple, but some of us still need to go to school tomorrow." Rei said looking daggers at a smirking Usagi.

"Hmmm, that does cause a problem. I think I can solve it though," Kevin said, smiling secretively.

"How?" Rei asked, not understanding the strange smile.

"I'll just call and tell them that you're not going to be able to make it to school, and they'll excuse you." Kevin replied smugly.

"And just why would they do that?" Rei asked suspiciously.

"Well, to put it bluntly, about 20 years ago I got really bored, so I decided to become a doctor, so it'll be a medical reason. But first I need to know who this is going to effect first," Kevin said.

"Just Venus and myself," Rei replied, a little confused at the idea of a guy who appeared to be a seventeen-year-old being a qualified medical doctor.

"I'll need your real names in order to tell your schools to excuse you," Kevin said rather pointedly when it appeared they wouldn't say any more.

"I'm Rei Hino and she's Minako Aino," Rei said after she thought for a while about revealing their names to Kevin.

"Thank you. Now which schools am I contacting?" Kevin asked, pulling out a note pad. Rei and Minako told him their respective schools' names and he nodded. "Well, since we can't do anything else about this until tomorrow, you guys should get some sleep. Guest bedrooms are down that hall, so you people can make your own sleeping arrangements in regards to who sleeps where. I'll see all of you tomorrow morning,"

Kevin left the room after he finished, and the others got up and headed for the guestrooms. Haruka and Michiru took the first bedroom on the right, Mamoru and Usagi took the second one on the left, accompanied by a chorus of hints from the others,and Rei,Makoto, and Minako took three others. Inside the rooms, they found that they were indeed set up as guestrooms. Inside each there was a couple of dressers, a few chairs, several windows that showed a view of Tokyo, and king-size beds, except for the first two on the left, which looked like they were decorated for little kids complete with two twin beds on opposite sides of the room. They all went into their rooms and got ready to go to bed.

As the others were getting ready for bed, Scott and Ami were still standing in the living room.

"So Ami, um... where are you going to sleep?" Scott asked nervously.

"Well, the bed in the room where I took my shower looked comfortable," Ami said, as she looked at Scott and was surprised to see him blushing hotly. She misinterpreted the reason for the blush and continued talking quickly. "Ah, no! I didn't mean we should share... "

"It's not that, it's just that you took a shower in my bedroom this afternoon," Scott told her, noting the surprised look of shock on her face. Then he heard Kevin, Makoto and Minako break out laughing at the look on Ami's face followed by a thump as Minako hit the floor still laughing uncontrollably.

"Don't say anything," Scott said quietly, seeing the blush coloring Ami's cheeks."We are not going to get too worked up over our relationship just yet. Let's worry about rescuing Talia and Chibi-Moon first, then we can worry about us. Deal?" Scott whispered to Ami after he placed a finger on her lips to silence her.

Ami nodded, smiling.

"You can go get in bed. I'll take one of the others. I'll see you tomorrow," Scott said out loud.

"Okay," Ami said, smiling confidently as she walked past her staring friends and into Scott's room and closed the door behind her.

As Scott watched Ami head to his room, he smiled, then turned and headed for the kitchen. He got himself a glass of water. When he was done drinking the water, he noticed that Luna and Artemis had entered the kitchen. They hopped up on the counter and looked questioningly at Scott.

"Hello you two. Can I get you anything?" Scott asked.

"That's all right, Gerrek. We're about to turn in ourselves," said Luna.

"Then what can I do for you?" Scott asked.

"We see that you and Ami are getting along pretty well together again," Artemis said.

"No thanks to you two, making her remember before she was ready for it," Scott said angrily, looking down at the obviously repentant cats.

"Sorry," said Luna quietly.

"It's just that I wanted her to have a normal life. Not one where she was forced into remembering a time in her past or a relationship she'd once had," Scott said.

"Are you in love with her or are you just stringing her along?" Luna asked bluntly.

"I've been in love with her for over 2000 years, Luna, and now, when I've found her alive again, I'm scared to death of what could happen to her," Scott said, smiling reassuringly at the cats' surprised looks.

"What do you mean?" Artemis asked, confused.

"I'd rather not say. It was hard enough to tell her what I meant," Scott said.

"Oh," both cats replied, surprised.

"I'll let you two go to sleep now. I've got to go get cleaned up and then get some sleep. I'll see you two in the morning," Scott said

Scott left the two cats in the kitchen, noticing that the others were already settled in for the night. Smiling a little at the protectiveness of the cats, he wandered along the hall, still too wound up to get to sleep. As he got to the door of the library, he saw a light under it, and chuckled softly as he realized that Kevin had the same problem he did. Opening the door he was surprised to see that Kevin was reading what appeared to be a handmade book. As the door opened Kevin looked up and smiled to see Scott at the door.

"Let me guess, you couldn't sleep either," Scott said, moving further into the room. Glancing at the book he was surprised to see that it was in Old Lunar. "Hey, I thought you couldn't read that book," he said in surprise. Kevin nodded and motioned for Scott to sit down, then offered him some brandy from the decanter at his elbow. After pouring Scott's drink, Kevin sat back then picked up the book again.

"Well, too answer your question, no, I couldn't read this book when I got it," Kevin replied, leafing idly through the book. "Thing was, when I got here this afternoon, I suddenly remembered the last time I saw Kiana before the meeting yesterday. So I decided to try reading this thing again. Unfortunately, I still can't read it, though I get the feeling I should be able to. Anyway, I'll probably have to check the scrolls since the book is falling apart now," He carefully set the volume down on the desk.

"What scrolls? And what does the book have to do with Kiana?" Scott asked.

Kevin smiled at the confusion on Scott's face. "Well, you obviously remember the time I got this book, but you probably don't know how I got the scrolls it came from," He said smiling at the question. "It was during the time before we met again in Japan almost 300 years ago.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Honshu Island, 1700

Kevin O'Connell grumbled as he trudged along beside the horses, complaining about the snow, and the fact that he was out in it. As he trudged through the snow, he wondered who the woman who kept following him was, and what she wanted. She was a native of the country, but she showed more than the normal interest in him. Since he hadn't be able to think of any reason for her to have asked to see him three months ago, other than being an assassin paid to kill him, so he had left Sendai and had been on the run ever since.

A loud crash at the head of the caravan startled his horse, and made him look up. A landslide ahead had just blocked the trail, and from the shouting coming from the lead riders, the slide hadn't been natural. Drawing his sword, Kevin moved to the front, arriving in time to see a pair of ninja rise up behind the caravan guard leader, who was struggling with his mount. Before Kevin could shout a warning, the further one shot the guard leader from his saddle while the other darted out and capture the horse's reins. As the ninja with the horse was dragging the guard leader from the saddle, Kevin moved up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Ducking under his opponent's swing, he brought his sword up in time to block the man's return strike. As he was driven backward, Kevin noticed that the other ninja was trying to shoot him, so he turned the fight to keep his opponent between him and the archer still in the rocks. As Kevin was backed toward the rest of the caravan, he heard the clash of swords and came to the conclusion that the two ninja at the front were not his only atttackers. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a number of bandits, and even a few Ronin fighting the caravan guards while the merchants cowered under the wagons. Turning back to his opponent, he began a pattern attack that ended with him facing the decapitated form of his opponent. Darting forward, he drew one of his boot daggers and as the second ninja came into view taking aim on one of the caravan guards who was winning his fight with an especially well-armored Ronin, he threw the dagger, burying it in the man's throat, and sending the arrow, arcing into the sky.

Rejoining the caravan guards, he found that the bandits were being driven back,until the last few turned to run, only to be felled by arrows from the three remaining bows. Kevin went back to the forward-most wagon, and found the owner of the caravan huddled under the tarp of the wagon, shaking. After dragging the man out of hiding,Kevin took two of the guards on horses, and searched for the bandits' camp.

After four hours, they had almost given up, when one of the guards found the bandits' latrine, the hard way. As the other guard hauled their companions out of the latrine, Kevin followed the well-worn path back to the camp. As he glanced around the camp he noticed one of the tents had a wooden floor, and was larger than the others around it. Approaching it, he noticed that only the roof was a tent. The rest of the structure was made of wood and it actually had a door. He searched the rest of the camp then returned to entrance of the large building where he was joined by the two guards. Motioning the two men back, he climbed the steps to the door.

Examining the edges of the door, he noticed a rougher spot on the door near the top of it, about twice the width of a dagger blade as if a dagger was slid in at one point and then moved to the other. Drawing the dirk he had retrieved from the ninja, he motioned the guards to move further back. He then slid the dagger into the small opening, and slid it sharply toward the corner. As it slid to the right, he felt a sharp tug then heard a weight drop to the ground. Carefully, he slid the door open revealing a net full of bricks lying on the floor with a severed rope hanging down above it. On sight of the rest of the contents, he called the two guards into the room. When the two guards entered they saw weapons and sacks lying everywhere.

As the guards went into the room and searched, Kevin looked at the far wall questioningly. Pacing the length of the room, he went back outside and measured the length of the building. Even more confused, and a little excited he ran back into the room, and paced it off again. After looking at the wall for any signs of an opening, he began to search along the floor. It was near the corner of the room that he noticed some of the treasure had been piled onto a large carpet. Smiling to himself, he looked over at the guards who were still sorting through the treasures on the other end of the room. He called one of the guards over, told him to go tell the others about the treasure, chuckling to himself when the two soldiers grabbed the best looking items and stashed them in one of the other tents.

As the one guard rode off, Kevin got the other to move the treasures off of the rug 'to get a better look at it'. When the treasure had all been moved, he was surprised find that the rug was actually more like a tapestry like he had seen at the castle he had stayed in, in Germany, during his travels on his way to Japan. Intrigued he viewed the images on the cloth and felt as if he had seen something like this before. Glancing at the images he saw a large circle surrounded by ten larger circles.

On each of these larger circles, circles filled with many strange colors were shown. The third circle from the center was blue and green with some brown areas. The fifth was blue with many different brown areas, and for some reason seemed to be more faded than any of the others. The sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth were nearly as faded as the fifth, but the first, second, fourth, and tenth were not as faded as the other five, but nowhere near as brightly colored as the third. Something in the back of his mind told Kevin he should know what this meant, but he couldn't figure out the feeling. Smiling ruefully, Kevin decided that he would keep this item for himself. With this in mind, he went outside, gathered his belongings from the horse, and then lay them out on the 'carpet'.

The caravan arrived shortly thereafter, and all of the treasures were packed into the wagons. When the leader of the caravan asked about the rug, Kevin simply told him it was comfortable, and then that he had decided to stay in the camp. The leader shrugged then told the pack master to remove Kevin's two packhorses from the caravan. As the caravan left several of the guards could be heard muttering to themselves about crazy foreigners. Smiling to himself Kevin simply waved to the departing people, then when he had seen the last of the departing pack horses vanish over the last visible rise, he turned and went back into the building. Whistling, he moved all of his belongings from the tapestry, then rolled the tapestry up until the trap door he had expected to find was revealed. Smiling even more broadly, he grasped the ring and hauled the door up coughing at the dust that sprang up. He was surprised at the amount of dust on the stairway that was now visible. The hinges hadn't even squealed as he opened the door, but the dust visible in the passage spoke of centuries of disuse.

Gathering a torch and some other supplies, Kevin climbed down into the passage, carefully keeping his feet from scraping along the floor in order to keep the dust down. As he walked along the passage the total absence of footprints struck him as odd, but not as odd as the total absence of cobwebs. As he reached the far end of the passage, he saw a large metal door. Approaching the door he froze when he heard a deep voice in his mind. "Stand for aura scan and identification," the voice rumbled. As he stood, scared out of his mind, a painfully bright beam of light flashed out from the door, and filled the passage. After two minutes of being exposed to the light, the beam cut off and the same deep voice entered his mind. "Greetings and welcome First Prince Siegmund Drakkar, you may enter," Then the door opened.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Scott looked at Kevin in surprise. "You mean you already knew who you were?" he said, bewildered.

"Hell no," Kevin replied. "I just thought the guardian had made a mistake, and went in. That was where I found the scrolls."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The room was full of scroll racks the likes of which he had only seen in a monastery. Staring around the room he noticed a stack of scrolls that had a spotlight shining on it, then the same voice sounded in his mind. "These documents are those pertaining to your duties at this time, Prince of Neptune, take those and no others," Then the voice faded again and so did the strange lights in the room until only the pile of scrolls on the table was lit. When Kevin glanced around at the other racks he saw that all of the scroll still in the racks were glowing with a strange blue light. Curious he reached out his hand and touched one. As his hand brushed the first scroll there was a bright flash, then darkness.

Ten minutes later, Kevin woke up with a severely pounding headache. "Man, note to self, don't touch glowing scrolls, they hurt a lot," Grimacing with pain he walked over to the table with the scrolls on it. Counting them, he found there were 15 scrolls, all in a language he couldn't read. Grumbling to himself he gathered them all up and carried them back to the entrance. When he arrived in the other building he placed all of the scrolls in one of the empty waterproof pouches he usually carried travel bread in, then gathering the rest of his belongings from the pack animals outside, he made camp for the night. As he settled into sleep, he grumbled to himself. "Wouldn't you know, the one time I find a secret room and get in, and all I get out of it are a bunch of lousy scrolls," With this he fell into a deep sleep filled with dreams of a beautiful girl and war.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"So what does this have to do with the 'oh so embarrassing' meeting between you and Sailor Pluto," Scott asked, smiling at the blush on his friend's face. "And don't try to tell me they aren't related to each other because the timing is just too coincidental."

"Okay, I can see you want the whole story," Kevin muttered. "Just promise you won't laugh."

"Alright, deal," Scott said, crossing his fingers behind his back.

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Kevin rolled the tapestry up completely two days after leaving the record chamber, and placed it on one of his pack horses after wrapping it in the waterproof cloaks he found in the other tents in the camp. Drawing his own cloak tight around himself, he rode toward the citadel of the Nakijima Clan. As he entered he was greeted by many of the guards and noticed that there were a large number of new troops, and that some of the apprentices being trained were not of the same quality as those that had been in training even the year before. He placed his possessions in his rooms, and then was taken before the clan leader to report on what he had seen and heard in the many months he had been away. After he had reported he asked about the large numbers of new guards he had seen on the road and the many apprentices he had passed in the main courtyard that had previously been refused training.

"Honored Elder, I know quite well that the reason that Ohata, and Akinji were refused training was that they were both accused of brutality by many, and rape by three women who later disappeared under strange circumstances," Kevin said, speaking of two of the worst new apprentices. "I was the head of the board who denied them training. The only thing which stopped us from ordering their castration was that there were no witnesses except the victims, and they could not be found."

"My child, it was by the order of the Shogun himself that we have been forced to take into our ranks those who were deemed unworthy previously. The Daimyo of Hokkaido has angered him by harboring Gaijin against his edict," At this the Clan leader motioned the guards outside. Once they had left and shut the doors behind them, he continued. "In six months time we are to go to Hokkaido. Once there we will attack the Daimyo's palace, and destroy every man, woman, and child of the present lord's family. In addition, we are to dishonor every wife, concubine, and daughter of the Daimyo," At this Kevin was outraged.

"Requiring the Daimyo to commit seppuku is within the bounds of honor and right for the crime Lord Shinusuke has committed," Kevin said, forcing himself to stay calm. "The rape, and destruction of his entire family is wrong. His heir is a mere child of three, and his wife and daughters have no control of his actions. How can it be deemed right, and honorable to dishonor then kill helpless women and children?" Shaking his head he bowed formally to the clan leader, who was looking severely disapproving. "Honored Elder, I feel that this path is wrong. I will be guided by you in this however and will do as you command."

The leader of the Nakijima clan bowed in return, his expression lightening. "Your scruples do you credit my son, and for your honesty I shall be honest in return. It is true that there is much of dishonor in this commission the Shogun has given us, but we dare not refuse, on pain of the destruction of our entire clan. For your honor, I shall give you the only assignment that possesses even a particle of honor. In two days you will leave for Hokkaido. Your task will be two-fold. First you are to get word to the Daimyo, that unless he drives all gaijin from Hokkaido he shall be destroyed. Second, if I am slain by one of the other members of the clan, you must spirit the Daimyo's heir, and favored daughter Michiko from the palace, and hide them where they can not be found," After having said this the Clan Elder dismissed him to prepare for his journey.

Two days later Kevin left for Hokkaido, praying for the guidance of every god he had ever heard of to aid him in preserving the honor of the Nakijima Clan. After reaching the coast, he paid a fisherman to take him to the Island, and was told that the boat would be ready to depart in three days. As he returned to his camp after gathering firewood, he felt something disquieting. Approaching the camp carefully he saw a shadow detach itself from the trees. Moving stealthily, he approached the figure from behind as it bent to look at one of his packs. In a rush he tackled the person and pinned them- correction, her- to the ground. As he held the girl down, he heard some extremely irate screeching coming from his opponent. After binding her with the leather straps he usually carried for such eventualities, he rolled her over and was surprised to see it was the girl that had been looking for him before. She glared up at him as he checked his knots one last time then turned to work on his fire.

"LET ME LOOSE THIS INSTANT SIEGMUND DRAKKAR," The girl yelled at him in Japanese as she struggled with her bonds. Kevin jerked at the name then, turned to face the girl once he had a cheery blaze going.

"And who, my dear girl, would that be," he asked her, smiling a little at her shocked look. "My name is Kevin O'Connell, of the clan O'Connell of Donegal, Eire. I have no notion who this Siegmund Drakkar is, but you just happen to be the second being to call me that. Who are you, and what do you want with this Drakkar person anyway," Having said this, he saw that she was a little stunned by his statement, and started preparations for his evening meal with a shrug.

"But, but... you look just like him... " Sailor Pluto whispered to herself , then shook herself as she realized that he must not remember the Silver Millenium. "It doesn't matter. My name is Pluto. You are the person I'm looking for. You must come with me to the eastern slope of Chokai-zan. You must claim your guide scrolls."

Realizing that what this girl was talking about was the strange records cavern he had found, he asked her for reasons. "How do I know your not just saying that to get me to trust you so you can kill me later?" he asked her belligerently.

The look she gave him was completely shocked, then disbelieving. "Now, let me get this straight. You, the six foot, two inch giant, are afraid of me, the five foot, six inch dainty female? What is wrong with that picture? I mean, if you wanted to, you could immobilize my hands with one of yours left over, so what are you worried about," After she said this she shrugged in disgust.

Realizing how silly he looked in the situation after he thought about it, he smiled apologetically, and rolled her over to untie the straps. As she worked the circulation back into her hands then ankles, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Now, can we be on our way to Chokai-zan?" Pluto asked, getting to her feet and stepping closer to the fire, noting that he still kept the same distance between them. "We really must get those scrolls so that you can learn what your supposed to do when your destiny demands it," After saying this she sat down and looked at him as if she expected him to agree with her.

Shaking his head gently, Kevin sat opposite her after dragging his bedroll and saddlebags over. "I don't know anything about destinies, or why you think I'm the person your looking for but if these 'guide scrolls' are fifteen scrolls written in an unknown language, from a strange cavern that talks to you on the east slope of Chokai-zan, I already have them." Having said this he watched Pluto to gauge her reaction.

Pluto stared at him in shock for a few minutes, then started swearing viciously. She stood up and stormed around her side of the fire pacing back and forth, then started swearing in a strange but oddly familiar language. Finally she stood and pointed her finger at Kevin.

"Do you have the gall to tell me that I have been following you all over Japan, chased by rapacious bandits, captured and almost raped, buried by an avalanche, then knocked down and tied up; and you've already got the scrolls! ?!" She yelled, looking very put out.

"Well, yes, I guess in all honesty, I am," Kevin replied, surprised at her vehemence.

That's great, just great," Pluto screamed. "Now, if you're done wasting my time, I have more important things to do," With a flash of green light Pluto vanished still swearing in that strange language.

Two weeks later in Hokkaido, Kevin received word that the Clan Elder had died, and Ohata had become the High Elder.

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"So you see, I'm surprised that she will even talk to me," Kevin said smiling ruefully at Scott.

"Sheesh wassh jusht a bit peeved ash you there Kevin, me boy," Scott said, blinking at Kevin owlishly.

Kevin looked at his friend in surprise, then noticed the pleasant buzz he felt, and glancing down at the table realized they had finished a bottle and a half of brandy. Glancing at the mantle clock he saw that it was 1 AM. "Scott old friend, I think you should get some sleep before the long day we'll have tomorrow," Helping his friend out of the chair, Kevin led him to the door. After reminding him about the room changes, Kevin let him stumble off to bed while he walked to the other end of the hall and entered the master suite. After downing two quarts of Gatorade, and getting ready for bed, Kevin collapsed into his bed to be tormented by dreams of his love dying, and not being able to do anything.

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A WAREHOUSE SOMEWHERE IN OSAKA

In a warehouse on the waterfront, two people, one male, and the other female, were talking as they sat by a large table, waiting for instructions. The man was getting restless after waiting as long as he'd had to, so he got up and went to a nearby door and looked in at the two captives that they had tied to a bed in the next room. They were two girls about thirteen years old. One was wearing a pink fuku, while the other was wearing a purple fuku. They were lying on an old, rickety bed, tied spread eagle. Around their necks they wore chokers that were glowing softly.

"They aren't going anywhere, Daryl," The woman said frowning at her companion.

"I'm just tired of all this waiting, Annie. When is Jarosite going to get here?" Daryl asked impatiently.

"He'll get here when he gets here. In the meantime you can stop looking at our two captives like that. Those chokers that they are wearing prevent them from regaining consciousness, while it slowly drains them of their powers, but if you touch either one of them, it'll drain you too," Annie said, smirking at the fear on his face.

"I know that," Daryl said with a small hint of anger in his voice at the insinuation.

"Yeah whatever. You should realize that we shouldn't expect Jarosite until tomorrow anyway. It should take him that long to get to us from Okinawa. We should probably expect him to arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon. Go and get some rest. And leave those girls alone. If you touch either of them I'll kill you myself."

After Daryl glared at her, he left to get some sleep. Annie got up and checked on the two girls and wondered again why they wore such short skirts. She figured it was to distract their enemies while they got their attacks off. That was the only reason she could come up with anyway. She just shrugged her shoulders and closed the door and went to her room to sleep in order to be rested enough to fight Drakkar when he met them in two days.

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To Be Continued...


	7. Kidnapping II

1Swords of Destiny

By

Drakken and Stacko

LEGAL STUFF: The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't have any money to begin with.

We hope you enjoy the story.

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CHAPTER SIX - Kidnapped part II

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May 11, 1999, Drakkenhaus Hotel, Ginza Ward, Tokyo, 5 A.M.

Ami was confused as she woke in a strange place. The first thing to impinge on her consciousness was that she was not at home in her own bed. The confusion this engendered was dealt with by the memory that she was staying in the penthouse of a hotel in the most expensive part of Tokyo. There was still something wrong though, so she tried to get her mind working a little better. Checking all sensations that her brain was receiving against previous experience, she classified all of them except two. One was the sensation of something hard and warm running all along her back. The other was something equal warm resting on her hip. When she had spent what felt like five minutes attempting to classify both sensations she finally decided that the only thing she could do was turn and look.

As she turned, she heard a grunt of complaint, and then gasped at what she saw. Swearing in a way that would have shocked her friends, Ami jumped out of the bed always keeping her eyes on the sleeping form that barely shifted at all from the waves that washed through the waterbed. Her temper flared as she watched the man in the bed sleep on peacefully. Her eyes lighted on the pillow she had until recently been lying on and her hand reached out and grabbed it. With a shriek of feminine rage, Ami jumped onto the bed and started pummeling Scott with everything she had. When the pillow went flying out of her hands on a back swing she continued, using her fist since the pillow hadn't seemed to have any effect on her victim.

As Ami pummeled him with her fist, Scott began to struggle awake. Still only half-awake his mind registered two things at once. Ami was screaming swear words at the top of her lungs that he really hoped she did not actually understand, and someone was trying to beat him through the headboard of his bed. His reflexes took over at this point and Ami suddenly found herself pinned under Scott's body with her hands trapped above her head. When she looked up in shock at Scott, Ami saw his eyes slowly clear of their sleep-induced fog as Scott's mind registered their position. With a gulp, Scott swore viciously then started turning green. In a rush, he jumped off the bed and dove into the bathroom, where he was very noisily sick.After a few moments Ami heard the shower spray come on and she sat up, wondering what had happened the night before. She looked down at herself and blushed as she realized what Scott had seen. She made a quick dive for her book bag and put her bra back on, then straightened the black silk shirt she was wearing. She heard the shower cut off, and then heard a door open and close. Confused that Scott still had not come back into the room, Ami went to the bathroom door and tried to open it. The door opened easily, but there was no sign of Scott and since the only other door in the bathroom would not budge when she tried it, Ami locked the bathroom door and took a short shower herself. Dressed in the clothes she had worn to bed, Ami walked out into the room cautiously, every nerve poised for flight.

As she stepped into the room, Ami looked pointedly at Scott, who was lying on the bed wearing a black silk shirt similar to the one she herself had on as well as black fatigue pants. A pair of black hiking boots rested on the floor next to the bed. As Scott registered the look she gave him, he smiled a little self-consciously. After nervously clearing his throat, Scott attempted to say something twice before he finally got out what he was saying.

"Just as a question mind you, but nothing happened in here last night did it?" Scott asked, blushing lightly at the way the question sounded. "I mean you and I... we didn't... did we?" As the point of his question finally percolated through her mind, Ami blushed heatedly and became rather tongue-tied. Taking her reaction to mean the worst, Scott looked at Ami with horror in his eyes. "Oh, boy," Scott said as he slumped back in the bed with his hand over his eyes.

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Kevin smiled grimly to himself as he made his way to the room he had assigned to Scott the night before, since Ami had taken over his regular room. He wasn't looking forward to waking his good friend up after the drinks he'd had last night. Kevin himself had taken precautions to ward off a hangover last night, but based on the way Scott had stumbled down the hall last night, he very much doubted that Scott would feel at all well this morning. Thinking of the two quarts of Gatorade that he had downed last night just before going to sleep, Kevin grinned.

"I just love modern technology," Kevin said to himself as he knocked at the door. After waiting a few minutes without getting a response he knocked again, smiling even more broadly. When still didn't respond, he simply open the door. When he saw that Scott wasn't in the room, he checked the bathroom, and attached dressing room. No Scott. Muttering darkly to himself, Kevin stormed to the library, and opened the concealed door to the security monitoring room. After making sure Scott hadn't left the penthouse, he began switching from camera to camera looking for his friend. As he reached the firing range, the monitor devices detected a scream coming from Scott's room. Switching to the bedroom audio monitors, Kevin activated the microphones in Scott's room and smiled at the words Ami was using, then realized Scott's name was mixed in with them. When the words were cut off, then followed by Scott's voice cursing, Kevin started laughing as he realized what must have happened. He roared with laughter when he heard running feet, then Scott being sick in the bathroom. Smiling to himself, Kevin shut down the audio monitors, and left the room, shutting the concealed door.

As Kevin left the library his smile broadened as he considered the others got together later for breakfast. He was so caught up in the image that he didn't hear Makoto's door close as she stepped out of her room. In fact he didn't even notice Makoto until he ran into her knocking her off her feet. With a startled apology, he reached down and lifted her back to her feet. Motioning her to silence, as they were right across from Scott's room, he grasped her arm and led her to the kitchen. As they entered the room, Makoto froze and gazed at the huge room in open astonishment. The she turned a looked questioningly at Kevin who was smirking at her surprised look.

"What is this? A restaurant kitchen?" She asked, looking around the kitchen, completely bewildered.

"No, this was just a present I gave myself after finishing college the last time," Kevin said smiling as she explored the huge kitchen. "After graduating from American Culinary Institute, I decided that I deserved a real chef's kitchen. So I had the one here remodeled."

"The American Culinary Institute?" Makoto said looking confused again. "But I thought you were still in High School."

"Makoto, I've graduated from at least ten different colleges in the last 60 years, with degrees ranging from architecture, to cooking, to Medicine." Kevin said, smiling a little self-consciously. "I've spent so many years in school, I don't even remember some of the names. What usually happens lately, is I finish my degree, move to a new town and the truant officer shows up and back to high school I go." Kevin muttered darkly to himself about interfering civil servants.

"You mean you keep getting sent back to high school every ten years, and always back to the second year?" Makoto asked, shocked that he had so much trouble, then thought of something. "Wait a minute, If you move to different towns every time, why don't you just have someone make up a diploma saying you already graduated from high school, or take some kind of proficiency exam?"

Kevin blushed brightly at that. "Well you see there are two reasons for that," he began, smiling sheepishly. "First, I would also have to have the diploma from a high school that had record for me at my apparent age. The second is, they don't force me to go back to school. I go back every ten years so that I don't get behind on all the advances that they make while I'm in college. Quite simple to just register under a new name, with my old name listed as legal guardian, and I'm all set. Ten years later it just starts over again."

"But what if they ask for a meeting with your guardian?" Makoto asked, coming up with the biggest problem she had with schools.

"Real simple." Kevin replied, winking conspiratorially. "I just tell them he's on a business trip. If they get really obnoxious about it, I just hire an actor, who acts as my guardian for the meeting. I just have to keep him on retainer until I graduate in that case. A lot of famous actors got their start that way." Kevin smiled

"Wish I'd thought of that one," Makoto muttered to herself in consternation. Then she noticed Kevin rooting around in the cupboards and pulling out different containers as he whistled to himself.

"What are you doing?" Makoto asked looking at the items he had already set on the counter.

"Just getting ready to make breakfast," Kevin responded, getting more ingredients and utensils out of the other cupboards. "You can help me, if you think you can keep up. I probably won't get done in here by myself until around ten."

"Keep up?" Makoto gasped, outraged. "More likely you would slow me down."

"You think so, huh?" Kevin responded challengingly. "Okay, a contest then. Western breakfast for half the guests, then Chinese food for the other half for dinner. After dinner the others decide who the better cook is, agreed?"

"Agreed, on the condition that the breakfasts be relatively similar," Makoto responded. "And that Scott gets to eat my cooking first."

"Fine with me," Kevin replied, grinning. "How about pancakes, waffles, or crepes, eggs, juice and meat to order, and each serving prepared fresh on order?"

"Great," Makoto responded, getting ready. "May the best cook win."

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Mamoru smelled something delicious as he woke up in the double bed on one side of the bedroom he had shared with Usagi the night before. After a few minutes of confusion, he recalled that he and the rest of the Sailor Senshi were staying in the apartment of one of the most recently discovered members of Queen Serenity's court.

As he pulled himself out of bed, he walked over to the other bed in the room and checked on Usagi. He noticed the dried tracks of tears on her cheeks but, thankfully, she was sleeping peacefully for now. His mouth tightened when he thought about the reason that they had all stayed in Kevin O'Connell's apartment last night. Remembering the pain Usagi had felt earlier, he swore that if any harm came to either his daughter, or to Hotaru, he would not rest until those who had harmed them had paid dearly.

Stepping into the bathroom with his overnight bag, Mamoru removed his pajamas and stepped into the shower. He was surprised to see that it had three nozzles and only one faucet, and then realized that they all worked together. After turning on the water and while he waited for the water to heat up, he looked at the stall, and noticed a set of five small hand pumps set in the wall. On further investigation they turned out to dispense soap, shampoo and conditioner.

After his shower, Mamoru found an electric toothbrush and a number of spare tips obviously for the use of guests, and brushed his teeth. He smiled at himself in the mirror, and then dressed in the spare clothes he had brought along. After knocking on the door into the bedroom and receiving no reply, he stepped into the room, noticing that Usagi was still asleep. After moving her overnight bag into the dressing room off the bathroom, he walked over to Usagi's bed and touched her shoulder, calling her name. When she asked her mom for just a few more minutes, he smiled, then shook her shoulder, and told her she had to get up.

After she was finally out of bed, he helped her into the bathroom and told her where her bag was then closed and locked the door. Shortly afterward, he heard the bathtub start filling. Smiling to himself, he walked over to his bed and started making it to keep his mind off what was going on in the other room. After a few minutes, Usagi called out asking where her bag was. After reminding her of the bag's location, he laid on his bed and read one of the books he had brought from school, until she came out the dressing room door. When Mamoru looked up at her, the first thing he noticed was the tears she had in her eyes. Smiling encouragingly, he walked and hugged her gently. After she had regained her composure, she moved a little away smiling back at Mamoru, and then sniffed the air.

"What smells so good?" She asked wonderingly, glancing at the door. "I'm hungry." She moaned, and then sped out of the room in search of the source of the smell, while Mamoru trailed along behind her.

Mamoru and Usagi were surprised, when they reached the kitchen, to see Kevin and Makoto in matching chef's jackets and hats. They were standing by two identical grills, with piles of ingredients and utensils on opposite counters. When they entered, Makoto smiled at them, then looked to Kevin who motioned her forward. Smiling maliciously at Kevin, she turned back to the new arrivals.

"Good morning you two," She said leading them to the dining room, and getting them seated. "Today, we are having something special for breakfast and dinner, and we hope you like it. Kevin and I are having a contest to decide who is the better cook." At her friends' bewildered looks, she smiled reassuringly, and then looking over her shoulder to make sure Kevin could hear her, explained.

"HE says that he's a better cook than I am," She said, motioning toward Kevin with her head. "So we're having this contest. We will both cook breakfast for half of the people staying here, then dinner for the other half. Then you can decide who made the better meal. Fortunately Usagi, Haruka, Rei, and Scott get to eat my cooking for breakfast. Mamoru, Ami, Michiru, and Minako will have to make do with whatever Kevin makes. Then for dinner it will be reversed." Kevin could be heard chuckling in the kitchen over Makoto's biased presentation, and the dazed look on Usagi's face. After each cook accepted their client's order they returned to the kitchen, where the sounds of cooking could soon be heard.

"Which do you think is better at cooking, Mamoru?" Usagi asked quietly. "I would think Makoto would be better than any guy, but Kevin has had 700 years to learn to cook."

"For my sake, I just hope he can cook half as well as Makoto, or I'm going to have indigestion all day," Mamoru replied, with a rueful look. "And don't forget, he's making your dinner so you won't come out unscathed either."

Usagi's expression of horror was still on her face when Rei, Minako, Michiru, and Haruka arrived. When questioned about her expression, she explained to the others about the contest, getting mixed responses. Rei and Minako felt that Makoto would probably win, while Michiru and Haruka adopted a wait and see attitude. Usagi, Rei, Minako and Haruka asked for pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs orange juice and toast, while Mamoru asked for waffles, link sausage, poached eggs, apple juice, and an English muffin. Michiru requested crepes with strawberries, ham, and fried eggs over easy, tomato juice, and croissants. When Minako's pancakes arrived, she noticed that they looked fluffier than the others' did.

"How did you get these pancakes this light?" She asked after he had brought in Mamoru's food. "I mean they're obviously lighter than Makoto's but I can't taste anything different from her usual ones." She blushed when Makoto glared at her for the comment but still looked questioningly at Kevin.

"All I really did was substitute club soda for the water," Kevin replied, smiling at Makoto's slightly sour expression. "The bubbles make them lighter."

The others ate their food in silence obviously enjoying everything they were given. The clock in the hall was ringing eight o'clock when Scott and Ami finally made their appearance. At the curious glances they got from the others in the room, Ami blushed hotly when Usagi asked about her outfit, which was similar to the one she had been wearing the night before. As everyone else laughed at Ami's expression, Kevin got a wicked gleam in his eye.

"And what, pray tell, have you two been doing all morning, Hmm?" He asked suggestively, laughing openly at the glare Scott threw at him.

"Just talking." Scott grated; the look he was giving Kevin promising retribution in the not too distant future.

After Scott and Ami finished their breakfasts, Kevin motioned them out to the hall and asked the others to go relax in the living room. After the others had left, Kevin led Scott and Ami to the closet in the entry. After putting on his black duster, and taking his hat off the hat rack, he turned to his companions.

"I'm going up to talk to Katsuhito, and then to Marcus's place to see if I can get more information on Annie's operation," He told them.

Scott nodded then glance at Ami. "I've set up an appointment at Claire's for Ami so she'll have something besides my clothes to wear." He said, as Ami blushed. "I'll show the others around the place, and try to keep their minds off the girls as much as I can."

Kevin agreed then glanced at his watch. "Well, if were going to get back in time to do any thing, we had better get going." He said, motioning Ami out into the hall.

"Just make sure she likes what she gets." Scott reminded Kevin who nodded in response.

Ami looked bewildered at the look the two men exchanged then shrugged when they smiled in agreement. "I can always tell him I don't want the clothes if I don't like them." She thought to herself as Kevin led her an express elevator different from the one they had used when they arrived yesterday. When Ami noticed the direction they were going she looked questioningly at Kevin.

"Why are we going up?" She asked, looking at the panel on the wall. "Isn't your apartment on the top floor?"

"Actually, the answer to that question is yes, and no," Kevin replied with a mischievous look at his companion. "It is the top floor of the hotel, but I have a hangar on the roof where I keep my helicopters."

"Helicopters?" Ami said with a screech. "Why do we need to use a helicopter just to go to a fashion boutique?"

"Because Claire moved her showroom to Okayama." Kevin replied, and then smiled at the shocked expression on Ami's face. "We should be back in about eight or nine hours, though most of that time will be spent traveling, but don't worry the clothes she makes are worth the trip."

Motioning her out of the elevator when the doors opened, they stepped into a well lit chamber with numerous vehicles parked everywhere. After asking her to stay next to the elevator, Kevin stepped over to a panel on the wall and pressed several buttons then nodded in satisfaction when several green lights came on. After collecting a very strange looking key from the panel next to the elevator doors, he told her to follow him.

As they walked down the aisle between the aircraft she saw vehicles most people only see in magazines and movies. She was so engrossed in looking at the different helicopters she almost ran Kevin over when he stopped by a dark gray metallic monster that resembled military vehicles she had seen on CNN. Kevin helped her into the co-pilot's seat, then walked around and finished the outside checks for the preflight checklist. He climbed into the pilot's seat and spent several minutes on the interior preflight. After he finished that, he started the engine, then reached up and pushed two buttons on the overhead instrument panel. With a loud metallic clang, gates rose around the Helicopter and the locks on the door in the ceiling released. Then Kevin flicked a switch on the panel and aircraft started rising as the doors above slid out of the way.

"Just who is this 'Claire' person anyway?" Ami asked feeling extremely confused.

"Scott didn't tell you?" Kevin asked, surprised. When Ami shook her head, he shrugged. "Claire is a friend of mine who went into women's clothing design in 1812 back in England. When her shop was destroyed during the Battle of Britain in World War Two, I helped her relocate to Tokyo after the war was over. She moved her shop to Okayama in 1960 when land prices got to high for her taste here." Kevin started talking into the radio he had slid over his head, requesting clearance for take off.

After they reached the roof, the gates around the helicopter fell out of the way and Kevin got clearance and eased the Eurocopter AS 365 into the air. Tokyo quickly faded into the distance behind them as they head southwest over the ocean at high speed only turning inland an hour and a half after they left the hotel. They finally got to the airfield in Okayama an hour later where they were met by a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties who ran over to Kevin and greeted him with a hug when she saw him step out of the helicopter. After a bewildered Ami was ushered into the limousine that was waiting, Kevin directed the refueling of the helicopter then flew out into the heavily forested mountains nearby after reading the note his contact, who was part of the refueling team, had left on the co-pilots seat.

He smiled when he saw the huge tree near the shrine that was his goal, then stared in surprise at the huge house that was sitting in the meadow where he had landed the last time he'd been here. He remembered the old man's daughter living in the house that had looked like that, but it had been on the other side of Okayama. He shrugged to himself and landed in a clearing on the other side of the shrine. Whistling to himself, Kevin made his way up the steps and walked toward the Shrine office. As he approached, he noticed a young woman with dark hair sweeping the courtyard. When she glanced up at him questioningly he smiled, then noticed some similarities between her face, and that of the priest he had come to see. When she asked him if she could help him he smiled and shook his head.

"Don't bother," Kevin told the girl as he continued toward the office. "I'm here to see my old friend Katsuhito Misaki. Please just go back to what you were doing, I'd like to surprise him." When she smiled and nodded, he stepped silently up to the door. Inside the office he heard Katsuhito reciting a Haiku that he had just come up with. Smirking to himself, he slid to the side of the door and suddenly jerked it open, drawing his sword out of subspace as he stepped into the room. When he saw Katsuhito's expression, he sent the sword back and collapsed onto the floor laughing.

When he finally recovered, he looked his friend over. "Your powers are weak old man," he said in a menacing voice, then laughing again at the expression that came over the old priest's face. "But then, after 700 years I figure you're allowed to let them slip once in a while." Smiling at his friend he gave him the bow of equal to equal. After Katsuhito returned it he looked around at the office.

"This place sure hasn't changed much," he said, returning his gaze to his friend. "But what is that house doing in the meadow at the base of the steps?"

"My son-in-law moved his house to the meadow last fall," Katsuhito replied, proceeding to make tea for his guest. "Had some help from my grandson's several girlfriends." At Kevin's startled expression he chuckled softly to himself.

"Our Tenchi?" Kevin asked, shocked. "The kid who had a hard time asking a girl out on a date? He's got more than one girlfriend? Never knew he had it in him." Kevin then remembered the girl outside. "Would one of them happen to be short, have really strange red hair, and look to be about 15 years old?" At Katsuhito's nod, Kevin smiled and waved at the girl who seemed to be looking at a device that looked like a tricorder from Star Trek. She waved back then stared at the device in her hand. She looked from it to Kevin and back again, hit it a couple times then simply stared at Kevin then walked over to the other girl.

"Looks like that device actually does something," Kevin thought to himself, and then turned back to Katsuhito. "The main reason I came was to find out if you had noticed any unusual energy fields in the Osaka area over the last few months. One of my enemies seems to have gotten a lot more powerful lately for no apparent reason." Katsuhito looked gravely at his friend then smiled.

"I did feel a strange pulse in the energies around Nagoya almost five months ago," he said, thinking back to the time. "At the time it felt as if another world had come to exist in the middle of the city, but then it vanished altogether. While it was there though, this New World felt as if it had been steeped in evil for millennia. I was glad when it disappeared. Do you think this could have something to do with your enemy?"

"Could be," Kevin replied. "It would certainly explain the increased power level and the strange abilities." They thought on it for a while then stood up to walk around the shrine grounds. As they stepped out the door the sight of five girls and a boy standing in the courtyard talking to each other greeted them. As Kevin stepped out of the office and a little away from the building he felt a flash of excruciating pain as he was engulfed in a bright orange light.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Scott walked back into the penthouse and went looking for everyone. He found them in the same room they had had the meeting in the night before, discussing plans of action for getting the girls back once they knew where they were. As he entered the room their conversation stopped as they all looked at him questioningly. Scott walked over to the bar and got himself a soda then asked the others if they'd like one.

"How can you think of sitting around drinking sodas while Chibi-Usa and Hotaru are still missing?" Haruka grumbled glaring at him while Michiru tried to calm her down.

"I can understand your feelings Haruka," Scott said, trying to calm her down himself. "But we can't do anything about the situation until Kevin gets back with the information of where in Osaka Annie is. Until then we need to relax or we will be so wound up with worry and doubts that we won't be able to do those little girls any good at all. Do you all understand that?" At the nods he received from the Senshi, he smiled, and then relaxed a little. "While were waiting Kevin told me to show you around the penthouse. After that you are free to do whatever you want as long as it isn't worry about how we're going to get the girls back." When the others nodded in acquiescence, all be it reluctantly on Mamoru, Usagi, and Haruka's part, they proceeded down one of the halls radiating out from the main hall. The guests were shocked at the number of rooms that were included in the penthouse. They saw 12 different bedrooms, the library, the kitchen and pantry, and the hangar. Then Scott led them down another hall where they found the one lane bowling alley, Usagi's favorite the arcade, and Haruka's favorite the shooting range, with four metal cabinets Scott told them contained weapons and ammunition. When he brought them back to the lounge, Rei, Usagi, and Mamoru took off in different directions except for Haruka, Michiru, Makoto and Minako. When Scott looked at them questioningly, Haruka cleared her throat.

"We want to know how Kevin can afford all of this," She said as the others nodded. "You act as if he owns the entire building or some thing."

"I can understand how that would be confusing," Scott replied chuckling softly as he remembered something. "The reason Kevin acts as if he owns all of this is that for all intents and purposes he does."

"How can he afford all of this?" Michiru asked confused. "He would need several hundred million yen for everything we've seen here."

"Kevin's actual holdings fluctuate day by day but, from what he told me of the last audit his accountant processed, his net worth was in the hundred billion range." Scott said, laughing at Minako's expression.

"A hundred billion yen?" Minako screeched, appalled at the thought of that much money in one person's hands. Scott laughed even louder.

"No Minako," Scott corrected her. "100 billion dollars US. Based on the latest exchange rates that would be about 10 trillion Yen. But then most of his holdings are in corporate stocks and the like so he can't really get to those that easily. His ready cash fund is usually around 250 million dollars, so he doesn't have to worry about paying for most things if he really wants them."

Minako and Makoto looked as if they had just swallowed a fish when they realized the amount of money he kept on hand, and Haruka just stared at Scott in disbelief. Michiru took this opportunity to ask her own question.

"Exactly how long have you known Kevin, Scott?" She asked. "I realize that you knew each other pretty well back in the 1800's, but how did you actually meet?" Scott smiled at this question.

"Well to begin with, you have to remember that we were best friends in the Silver Millennium, but Kevin doesn't remember all that much from that long ago." Scott began. "Around 1296, a friend of mine from Scotland convinced me to join the army that was forming to stop the encroaching English forces. I had been through a couple of battles and was the equivalent of a sergeant when we received word of an army that had been brought over from Ireland. Our leaders were frightened that these troops would be more dangerous than the usual British troops because of the traditional hatred between the Irish and the Scots. They were afraid of them, that is, until a patrol found a group of Irish soldiers who had deserted the force that was marching toward us."

Scott laughed. "It seems that this 'Army of Irishmen' we captured, consisted of 100 footmen. Compared to the English forces we had been fighting, they were poorly equipped, severely disorganized, and, to the English point of view, dangerously unpredictable. The Irish deserters that we found willingly turned their weapons over to our sentries as a gesture of good will then simply set up camp and waited for us to decide what to do with them. When our leaders heard about them, they were confused...

Scotland, Argyle 1296

"How do we know that they can be trusted?" Sir William Brisbane asked, facing the other leaders of the Scottish army. "They could all be spies for the English. They might infect some of our troops with their poisonous words."

"Oh come now Sir William," Scott muttered disbelievingly. "If they were spies, they would have come up with some better reason for arriving here than that they deserted from the Irish troops because of Edward's reinstitution of Prima Noctum here. They would more likely say that they had come here to offer their services after tricking the English to bring them over, or some such nonsense as that."

"And what would a simple man of arms know of the practices of royal spies, Master Schwartzstern?" Sir William asked suspiciously.

"It would seem quite a bit more than you do, sir knight," Scott replied, smiling back at the man. "But that is beside the point in this case. My recommendation, Sir Andrew, is that we give them the freedom of the camp, but form them into their own unit so that they will only damage themselves while keeping them from, as Sir William fears, 'infecting' our otherwise loyal troops. In this way we can utilize them to the best of our abilities while preventing significant damage to our own morale."

"A wise precaution, Master Schwartzstern," Sir Andrew de Moravia said, nodding. "As Sir William has said we cannot risk them turning some of our already few troops against us. This does bring up the problem of who to set over them as a chieftain, since they have none of their own."

"My Lord, since Master Schwartzstern is so positive of the good intentions of these men I suggest that, for services to the Crown, Master Schwartzstern be given command of this band of Irishmen." Sir William's face lit in a smile of victory as Scott realized what he was in for.

"An excellent suggestion, Sir William," Sir Andrew replied smiling in return. "If you are agreeable, Master Schwartzstern, I will place these men under your command in Fortingal's band. Young Connor should do well as a second, don't you agree Sir William?" The knight's gleeful contemplation turned sickly at the mention of his son and heir, but there was nothing he could do without ruining any chance of advancement his son had.

"Of course my lord, Connor is an excellent choice," Scott replied, smiling at his erstwhile enemy. "I will have my equipment moved to the new camp immediately if that will be all." At Sir Andrew's nod Scott left the tent.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

After ordering his squire to move his tent and equipment to the Irish camp, Scott made his way toward the separate camp that the Irishmen had set up after surrendering their swords. As he approached the camp he felt an unfamiliar tingling at the back of his neck similar to the one that signaled the presence of one of his kind. Immediately, Scott shifted to a fully alert posture and faded into the forest to check on the camp's inhabitants.

As he reached the edge of the camp, he noticed several differences between the Irishmen and their Scottish counterparts. First, the Irish had posted sentries around their camp armed with quarterstaves since they had surrendered their swords. Others were practicing with the staves while several sat by a nearly smokeless fire obviously making arrows for the long bows that were leaned against several trees in easy reach. He felt the strange tingling again to his left and spotted one man who was practicing with a wooden sword that was a little thinner than most of the ones that they had confiscated from these men. Watching the man, Scott was surprised to see a number of familiar patterns that he hadn't seen in a number of years. Scott shook off the feeling of familiarity reminding himself that there were many styles of fighting that he had seen in the last thousand years.

Shaking himself to clear the last vestiges of the eerie feeling, Scott moved back to a safe distance then hailed the sentries. When told to come forward, he complied carefully keeping his hands away from his weapons. When he was in the camp, and had given them Sir Andrew's response to their request, he was led to the man who was practicing with the wooden sword. This man was Kevin O'Connell, son of a deposed knight in Donegal County. He was also the one on which the strange tingling was centered.

As Scott approached he noticed that Kevin trusted the men around him only as much as the circumstances required. Kevin smirked at the man that had come into their camp and looked him over. "And who might you be, my fine man? Hmm?" Kevin asked, motioning the guards a little away from Scott. "You're not wear the kilt so, I'm guessing you're not a Scotsman, but the patrols around here are so thick you'd have to be suicidal to be working for the long shanks."

"I was ordered by Sir Andrew to act as your commander when we meet the English," Scott replied. "Your right that I'm not of the clans, but I am a trusted friend of Sir Andrew's family, as well as knowing something of warfare. One of the lairds decided that since I wasn't of the clans, you would be more willing to take my orders."

"Then your laird was wrong," Kevin replied, and then shook his head when Scott was going to protest. "Oh, it's not that we aren't willing to take your orders, it's just that we would be just as willing to take any sane man's orders. Most of us know nothing of warfare, and would be willing to do anything as long as it made sense."

"Then I'll try to make sure that my orders make sense," Scott said, smiling in response to the laughter his reply caused among the group around him. "Since you seem to be the most talkative among this lot, would you care to tell me what skills these men have that would be useful? My name is Scott Schwartzstern by the by."

"Well Master Schwartzstern, these men have several useful talents..." Kevin then proceeded to explain what the hundred Irishmen were capable of.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The smoke from the fire Sir William Wallace had ignited at the beginning of the battle was finally starting to dissipate when the runner with orders for the 'Irregulars', as Scott's Irishmen had come to be called in the last weeks, arrived Scott spent several seconds gaping in shock. "And these orders came from whom?" He asked the messenger who had been told to join this unit after delivering the message.

"From Sir William Brisbane, sir...the Irregulars are to fall back to the wood and wait there for additional orders from him." The man replied, looking rather uncomfortable under the stares of the four men. Connor of Brisbane looked at the man in disbelief. Kevin O'Connell and the other man who Scott had taken as a sergeant wore expressions of disgust.

"And what of Sir Andrew de Moravia?" Scott finally asked.

"Dead sir, killed in the first mounted charge."

Scott stared at the man in shock as the disaster-hit home. He simply stood, shaking his head. Then his head came up as the sentry on the right flank called a warning.

"Master Schwartzstern, another rider coming."

The Irishmen blended into the underbrush as silently as ghosts except for Scott and Kevin. The rider saw them, then wheeled his horse and rode back the way he'd come.

"We've been seen," Scott shouted to his men." We have no choice, now we must fight. Prepare to attack the enemy as they come through the trees." The men moved into the forest behind them and prepared themselves.

The enemy first appeared in the form of heavy cavalry. As the mounted men reached the edge of the forest, which was the only barrier between them and the unprotected left flank of the Scottish Army, they were met by a storm of arrows from the trees. The commander of the cavalry unit ordered up the archers attached to the troop he was leading and they unleashed a withering storm of arrows, which drove the Irish back further under the trees. Scott sent the messenger off to demand reinforcements then gasped in shock as he felt an all too familiar tingling along his nerves. Looking around for the source, he saw Kevin O'Connell lying on the ground with an arrow in his chest. Then he felt a rush of pain as another arrow suddenly blossomed from his belly. Scott fell over with a groan and blacked out when the arrow was pulled out by his fall.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Scott returned to consciousness at night. From the fact absence of smoke in the air, he realized that it was not the same day as the battle. He looked around and saw numerous huddled forms that were the unburied corpses of the dead. From this state her realized that all of the men on both sides had died, including his messenger. The buzz of another immortal presence was still strong, and when he walked slowly over to Kevin, he watched the man shudder violently, then lay still several times. Judging from the arrow's position and Kevin's repeated revivals followed immediately by death, Scott came to the conclusion that the arrow had gone through his heart. Snapping the head that protruded from Kevin's back off, Scott slowly slid the arrow and was rewarded with a rush of arterial blood, which stopped almost immediately. Wrapping Kevin in fur blankets from some of the bedrolls of the fallen, then set about burying the dead. The next night after burying them all, Scott tied Kevin to one of the horses he had captured, and made his way north to the Orkney's.

"And that was how we met," Scott finished. "After I had trained him for about a year on the island where he woke after the battle, we spent about 15 months wandering around Europe and Asia mostly trying to avoid the Inquisition and other immortals. We finally arrived in Japan in the spring of 1298, and went our separate ways in 1301."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Kevin shuddered into consciousness, as he felt pain memories run through his body. "I wonder if anyone got the license number of the truck that hit me," he said to himself then sat up when he heard voices in the other room discussing him. With a grunt of pain he got to his feet, and made his way to the door where he listened to the conversation.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Who is that man grandfather?" Tenchi asked.

A female voice broke in at this point. "More importantly what is he? He registers as an Immortal, but from these readings he would be nearly immortal without being chosen."

"My dear Washu-chan, that man in there is as human as anyone else on this planet," Yosho said. "He is simply one of the Chosen Ones."

"That's not what the readings say." Washu muttered aloud.

"The 'Chosen Ones' Grandpa?" Tenchi asked his confusion mirrored on the faces of the other occupants of the room.

"Another name for Immortals from Juraian legends."

"But why does he heal so quickly, Grandpa?" Sasami asked, still confused. "James is a chosen one, and he doesn't heal nearly as quickly."

"That would be because of my place of origin," Kevin said walking out into the room. "By the way who shot me?" The occupants of the room spun around and stared at the red head, who crossed his eyes, making the young girl with blue hair giggle.

"Ah, I see your recuperative abilities are just as good as ever old friend." Yosho said, then introduced him to the others. Once the introductions were complete, everyone sat down again.

Kevin smiled at everyone in the room then turned to Yosho. "Now who was that shot me old man," he asked looking around the group questioningly. When he noticed the embarrassed look on Ryoko's face, he had his answer with no one speaking. "What was the big idea shooting me in the back? Did I do something to you in a passed life or something?"

"I thought you were a danger to Tenchi, so I...well blasted you" She said defensively.

"Ryoko, I wasn't in any danger, he was just walking out of the shrine!" Tenchi exclaimed surprised at her excuse.

"Tenchi, now wait a minute," Kevin said cautiously. "If your girlfriend thinks you're in danger and wants to protect you, that isn't a bad thing unless she is incapable of doing the job properly." At Ryoko's angry look and Ayeka's laugh, he smiled.

"I guess the only way to find out if she can do the job is to test her myself." Kevin said rather pompously.

"Fine, I accept your challenge." Ryoko said creating a plasma blade.

"If you would lend us the use of two bokken Lord Yosho we shall see if this girl is worthy to continue protecting Tenchi." At Yosho's nod, the two combatants made there way out to the dojo. Kevin and Ryoko both disdained the use of padding since it would only slow them down.

"Very well then," Yosho said smiling at the two warriors. "The rules are combat to the first touch. All targets are valid, as are all forms of physical attack. Magical attacks are forbidden, but flying is permitted. Are you agreed?" Receiving nods from both, he smiled "Begin."

Ryoko immediately took to the air and began circling Kevin looking for an opening. At almost the same instant they both attacked with blinding speed, their practice blades colliding with a force that would have thrown sparks from metal blades. Kevin redirected his strike but was blocked again.

"Not bad," Ryoko said watching Kevin as she floated around just out of reach. "But not good enough." She slashed at his head then as he instinctively ducked, redirected the strike to hit his leg. To the spectators that there was no way to dodge the blurred practice blade, but to their amazement he suddenly was nowhere near the path of the blade. As Ryoko gaped at what moment before she had thought impossible, her danger sense goaded her into a forward roll. When she had completed the roll she saw Kevin standing in the position she had just vacated recovering from a blow that would doubtless have hit her.

To the spectators, the bout was mostly a blur with many sudden stops as the opponents came together at times. Washu used her computer to analyze the fight in progress, and was dismayed to see that while Ryoko was performing at optimum efficiency, based on hesitation and speed of attacks, this 'Kevin' person was holding back for some reason. Trying to find out why his friend wasn't going all out like Ryoko was she walked over to talk with Yosho.

"Excuse me Lord Yosho, but could you tell me why your friend is holding something back?" Washu inquired, showing her confusion. "Doesn't he realize that if Ryoko notices it, she'll interpret this restraint as contempt?"

"No, he doesn't know that yet, little Washu, but I think there is a more reasonable interpretation than that to his actions." He replied, applauding as Ryoko barely extricated herself from a trap Kevin set. "You see for a long time there have only been two or three people that Kevin has been able to practice with at full speed. In the time that I have known him he has defeated no fewer than forty opponents, many of who were considered masters of the sword. He has even been known to defeat me on occasion, providing me with a much-needed challenge. But then, when you consider that we both have practiced our art for several lifetimes that is understandable that there are very few people that may offer us any kind of a challenge."

"What do you mean by that?" Washu asked glancing at the dueling pair. "Sure, to keep up with Ryoko, he's obviously very good, but he's only an immortal, not a super hero. How skilled could he actually be?"

"My dear little Washu, no matter how strong someone appears, his or her actual power can be surprising," Yosho warned, applauding again as Ryoko nearly caught Kevin in a trap nearly identical to the one he had used on her. "I have it on the best authority that Kevin's fighting style has been developed over 2000 years of nearly constant study. As to his ability, last time he stayed here, our sparing session lasted most of the day and only ended when we each scored a hit at the exact same instant and agreed to take the tie so that we could eat.

"Maybe he can help with my little problem," Washu thought, changing the subject to the problem she had.

As their conversation continued, it began to look as if the fight would take all afternoon. Suddenly Kevin seemed to blur then came back into focus with his bokken touching Ryoko's chest. Then he laughed when he realized that Ryoko had touched him in the stomach at the same instant. "Halt! Bow." Yosho called to the two warriors, who complied and then bowed to Yosho as the other spectators cheered.

"Well it seems that you are worthy of being Tenchi's body guard, as well as his girlfriend." Kevin said to Ryoko as they walked back to the house, ignoring Tenchi's protests.

"Thanks," Ryoko said, blushing a little and smiling back.

"You must be getting old, Ryoko, if a human immortal can almost defeat you," Ayeka said, laughing behind her hand in derision.

"Actually, Ayeka," Washu interrupted, also smiling encouragingly at Ryoko. "Ryoko did very well against Kevin. Especially considering that he has been fighting for his life for decades and uses a style that's nearly as old as Ryoko."

Ayeka looked sharply at Washu, then Kevin, and then back to Washu questioningly. "What do you mean Washu?" She asked looking very confused.

"Hmm...?" the little red head said staring straight back at Ayeka.

"Very well little Washu, will you tell me what you meant by that?" Ayeka asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Kevin smiled at the by-play, and then cleared his throat. "I think what she means is that Ryoko did very well for herself to accomplish a tie with someone who has been fighting continuously for the last seven hundred years and practice a style that was developed over the last 2000 years." At the startled gasps this comment elicited from everyone in the room except Washu and Yosho, Kevin simply shrugged.

"How is that possible Washu?" Sasami asked in confusion. "I thought immortals didn't train together, because it would give a potential opponent an insight into their skill."

"They don't normally, but there are a few of them that do," Washu replied. "James is one of them, as is Scott, and, it seems, Kevin. Scott and James train with as many good Immortals as they can find in order to keep themselves in top shape."

"If it's all about energy and knowledge, why don't they all just get together, declare a truce, and share all of the knowledge they have?" Tenchi asked, looking over to Kevin.

"Easier said than done," Kevin replied. "The largest problem with that idea, Tenchi, is that there are some Evil Immortals who look on the rest of us as rightful prey who are only there to give them an advantage. Most of the fights I get into are with people like that, or with new immortals that think it would be useful to takeout the older ones because of the amount of energy we've accumulated."

"New Immortals?" Tenchi asked looking at both Kevin and Washu.

"Approximately ten new immortals are 'chosen' every year, Tenchi." Washu replied. "Chosen how, and by whom, not even the other immortals know, but every year there are ten more immortals in the fighting. Usually only around four or five survive the first year as Immortals especially these days with so few people training in blade combat styles."

"The main reasons for the high attrition rate among the younglings," Kevin said, nodding to Washu. "Are the 'Hunters'. They are the Immortals who are afraid of all new immortals, because they are not under their control, and because of this fear they hunt down every new immortal, they can find, and kill them before they can ally with one of the 'Hunters' enemies. About two hundred years ago, my teacher and I decided that we would no longer kill other immortals, unless they gave us no other choice. We have even gone so far as to train younglings that we found to protect themselves from the 'Hunt' and, lately, to hide themselves from the governments of the world. Unfortunately, this policy of ours has left a number of Hunters as our enemies, and they seem to be getting together now." Kevin said, looking rather disgruntled.

"So why did you come to visit today?" Washu asked, concerned. "From what you and James have told me, I would think your time would be better spent practicing than visiting old acquaintances."

"Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you little Washu," Kevin replied, smiling at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces. "The reason I came to see Yosho today is that some young girls who are friends of Scott's have been kidnapped by one of my enemies, and she seems to have found a way to teleport herself from place to place, even between dimensions. I came here to find out if Yosho hand sensed anything that could explain it, seeing as he was the only resident ALIEN I new of."

"Actually, Kevin, Washu would probably be better able to tell you about any unusual energy readings on Earth," Yosho said, indicating the short scientist.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal," Washu said, rolling up her sleeves and bringing her holo-computer up. "If you give me some pattern samples so that I can finish this project I'm working on to find someone, I'll get you all the information I have on this Dimension traveler your dealing with. I'll tell you the dimensions she goes to, how often she goes there, where she arrives every time, and I'll even set up a subspace dampening field to stop her from teleporting off of the Island. Is it a deal?"

"Must be someone important if your willing to do all that just for some pattern samples," Kevin said non-committally.

"He is," Washu replied.

"Okay, sure," Kevin said after thinking about the possibilities. "You got yourself a deal."

After twenty minutes of poking and prodding, Washu had her samples, and had agreed to send the information to the server address Kevin gave her. As he was leaving he stopped at the threshold and looked back at Washu. "Who exactly is this 'James' person you're trying to find anyway?" He asked, curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"My Fianc1, James Dillinger." She replied. Kevin nodded in understanding, then continued on to the helicopter.

He was in the air on his way back to Okayama after a short stop in Osaka to visit the planning department offices there. After giving the ground crew their instructions he got into the car he kept here for his visits to Claire and drove over to the boutique. After parking the car, he walked into the boutique, where the receptionist waved him into the next room assuring him that they had finished with the lingerie earlier. As Kevin entered the show room, he froze in shock at the vision before him. Ami looked like an angel in blue.

"Claire, you've out done yourself," He said after he had regained his powers of speech. "I hardly recognized her." With a smile he took her hand and kissed it.

"Kevin, you sound as if the girl were a hag," Claire gasped, tapping him lightly on the shoulder in mild reproof. "She has an innate sense of what suits her, and a phenomenal sense of color and style. I merely showed her the possibilities."

"I congratulate you Ami," Claire said smiling at the now blushing teenager. "You have accomplished something few women have ever done. You have struck the great Kevin O'Connell speechless in admiration." Ami blushed even more, then made arrangement for the bill to be sent to the hotel. As they drove back to the airport Ami regaled him with stories of all of the clothes she had chosen, then she asked him how much it cost.

"More than you would think," he replied chuckling at her protest. "Less than I thought though, with Claire setting the prices." Ami had to be satisfied with that since he wouldn't tell her any more.

When they arrived at the airport, Kevin had the ground crew load the clothing that Claire had sent with Ami to hold her over until the custom made clothing was ready, into the passenger section of the helicopter while he did the preflight check. Ami climbed to the co-pilot's seat but it held a rather expensive looking digital camera, which she picked up and looked at. She set it down when Kevin climbed into the cockpit, then signaled the ground crew chief he was ready to start the engines. After the ground crew was clear, he start the engines, and while the rotors spun up, requested and received clearance for take off from the control tower.

"What is the resolution on your digital camera?" Ami asked as they flew back toward Tokyo.

"Only about 300 megapixels," Kevin replied distractedly, not noticing Ami's startled look. "R&D for the company that built it is working on one for me that will reach photographic resolution. They should have it ready for testing in about a year or so. The main problem they are trying to figure out is how to make a low dimension multi-gigabyte storage medium." Ami's eyes grew wider at the thought.

The rest of the flight went by in silence as Ami thought about the effect that company's research would have on the computer industry, while Kevin flew the helicopter.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

After he landed the helicopter, Kevin disappeared into his computer lab for an hour, while Ami showed her new clothes to her friends. As the girls sighed and giggled over the fashion display, Scott sat in the library and read, Mamoru, Haruka, and Michiru had decided to take a nap to be ready for the fight that night. Ami had just finished her fashion show when Kevin knocked on the door, then asked the girls to come to the war room. Then he walked down the hall to the library and shortly returned with Scott. He then proceeded down the bedroom hall and woke Mamoru up, then knocked on Michiru and Haruka's door. As everyone followed Kevin down the hall, Scott caught sight of Ami in one of her new outfits, and froze with a stunned expression on his face. Kevin walked up to his friend and waved his hand in front of his face. Then he smiled as he motioned to the others to walk down the hall, and he opened one of the closet doors in front of Scott as they proceeded. He kept Ami in Scott's line of sight and motioned the others to stay quiet as they watch Scott following Ami. The look on his face didn't alter for a second as he shuffled along the hall until he was completely in the door's shadow. Then his face registered shock as he walked into the open closet door.

Kevin smiled as Scott got back to his feet accompanied by chuckles and laughter from the others, then he led the way down a passage even Scott had never been down before. When they reached what appeared to be the end of the hall, Kevin drew a painting aside, and inserted a card in to the slot he had revealed. There was a sharp hiss, and Kevin jumped slightly, then the entire wall began to slide up into the ceiling with a faint hum. The lights came up in the room, as Kevin pressed a button next to the opening revealing a massive wooden conference table in the center of the room with an oddly shaped machine resting in the middle of it. He motioned them to their seats then walked to the front of the room.

"From information gathered last night and today, it has been determined that Annie has the girls hidden in a warehouse she owns on the docks in Osaka," Kevin began. "Based on other data received from a reliable source and the time frame you provided Scott, She teleported them directly from Juuban to the warehouse and has not teleported since. Using satellite imagery from a number of spy satellites that the US and China deny exist, I have been able to determine that nothing has gone into the building or left it in the last 36 hours, so there is a very good chance they are still there. How long they will stay there and what's happening to the girls is a complete unknown, so we will attack tonight." After all the Senshi nodded in agreement, he dimmed the lights and activated the projector on the table, which produced a three-dimensional wire frame hologram of a 10-story building.

"This is a diagram of the building, extrapolated from the plans I 'appropriated' from the planning office in Osaka," Kevin continued. "As you can see here," the image shifted to show a level in the building, "there are a number of offices on the third floor, including the chairman's private suite at the end of this hall. The suite has several rooms branching off of it, but this one would seem to be the most likely." He said using a laser pointer to indicate a specific room that didn't have an indicated function, and was cut off from the rest of the building by at least five other rooms. Another image came up. "This is the latest imagery from the last satellite over the area. As you can see it's surrounded by water on three sides, with two entrances visible on the ground floor. Now the plan is this. Ami, Usagi, and Michiru will assault the third floor from the stairwell with Mamoru, Haruka, Minako, and Rei as backup. Makoto, Scott and I will proceed up the stairs to the tenth floor then to the roof to stop any escape by air. The source of the transport information insures me that won't be able to teleport from anywhere within 300 miles of Japan so that's one thing we don't need too worry about. After we have the roof secured, the second team will monitor the outside perimeter to prevent any interference form outside agents." Kevin shut down the projector, and slowly brought the lights back up. "Once the girls have been retrieved, we will all meet at the vehicles and evacuate. Are there any questions?"

"What do we do if they have already moved the girls while we're on the way?" Haruka asked, as the others in the room began to stir.

"Well, I have a portable satellite receiver in the helicopter which Scott will be checking on the way," Kevin replied. "If they move them while we're on the way, we should be able to follow them without much of a problem."

"What do we do if something goes wrong at the building?" Usagi asked, looking very nervous.

"If you get into anything you can't handle, and you've separated, just call the others on your communicators" Scott said smiling.

"But you and Kevin don't have communicators, so how will you know if we need you for something we can't handle?" She replied, even more worried.

"Don't worry about that Princess," Kevin replied. "We'll have Makoto with us to pass on any messages you might have." He then looked at the others in the room. If there are no further questions, we'll meet in the entry hall in fifteen minutes. Scott, I'll need you help with some of the special supplies. You others can relax in the conversation pit in the living room, if you can." Kevin and Scott ushered the others out of the room, then walked down the hall to the armory.

After fifteen minutes, which saw Usagi fidgeting constantly, Scott and Kevin returned with two black duffels, and ushered the Senshi in the elevator. The Senshi, except Ami gasped when the doors opened revealing the black helicopter that they had used for the trip south. It was Ami's turn to gape along with the others when Kevin opened the passenger compartment to reveal the posh interior.

"The flight will last about three hours so make yourselves as comfortable as you can," Kevin said as he placed the two duffels in a specially reinforced compartment, then he started the preflight checklists.

After finishing the checklist, and receiving clearance from Tokyo control, Kevin took the helicopter into the air, flying directly to Osaka, while Scott watched the satellite display, and called ahead to arrange for transportation to be waiting. It wasn't until they were on final approach to the heliport that a new satellite photo showed a helicopter landing on the roof of the warehouse. Kevin swore and then landed the helicopter in a rush. Scott, Kevin and the Senshi ran down to the parking level, and jumped into the Hum-Vees that were waiting. The traffic faded away in front of the two black behemoths as they barreled down the highway. In fifteen minutes they arrived at the entrance and were relieved by the sight of the helicopter sitting on the roof with no one in it and the engines off. Kevin and Scott got out of the trucks and removed the duffels from their cargo containers. As Kevin passed the open window of the car, Makoto reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Be careful," she warned. "We don't want to warn them that we're coming."

Kevin nodded then kept walking toward the main gate where Scott was waiting. The guard walked over to them and demanded to know what they wanted. As Scott tried to convince him that the two Hum-Vees were carrying a delivery for the chairman, Kevin moved into the shadows and pulled something out of his duffel. As the guard went to call the security office in the building, Kevin materialized behind him, and pressed a stun gun t o the junction of his neck and shoulder. The guard twitched a little then collapsed onto Scott, as Kevin walked back over to his duffel and pulled out a tube of white phosphorus compound. Smiling at the look on Scott's disbelieving face, he laid a trail of the gel on the gate lock and retractor chain and strung wire from the gel to a controller he had under his arm. Scott and Kevin moved away from the gate and set the device off in a flash of actinic light. Kevin checked for security device on the gate, disabled them, and then pushed the gate open to allow Scott to drive the first truck through.

Everyone gathered at the side entrance out of sight of the main security desk, after Kevin disabled the security cameras.

"Here, you might need these," Scott said as he handed three cards to Ami.

"What are they?" She asked, looking them over.

"They're the key cards to the emergency entrances, the elevator override, and the chairman's suite. I got them from the gate guard while Kevin was playing with his toys."

Kevin ignored the jibe, as he disabled the door sensor, then pressed a few buttons on the code panel, then waved everyone through the now open door. Once they were inside, the girls drew out their henshin rods, and were about to transform when Scott held up his hand to get their attention.

"Hold it," He said looking around for cameras, then nodded. "A few more seconds, and they would have had evidence of every one of your secret identities," Scott finished, pointing at the camera slowly sweeping toward them. He motioned everyone into the alcove under the stairs out of the camera's view, and then Kevin placed himself directly under the security device. Carefully reaching up, he placed a mini-camera on top of the security camera, and then shivered with impatience as the camcorder in his hands recorded the slow progress of the security sweep. When the machine finished its cycle, he quickly cut the cable to the camera, then quickly spliced in the digital camcorder. With the camcorder repeating the scene it had recorded in an endless loop, he motioned to the Senshi that they could come out.

After the Senshi had transformed Scott led them up the stairs, pausing for Kevin to disable the cameras in their path. They stopped at the third floor and Sailor Mercury got out the first key card.

"Be careful in there," Scott said, stopping Mercury, and looking at each of the Senshi in turn. "Once you go onto that floor, the security force will know that we're here, so make your sweep as quickly as possible. If you run into any Immortals, remember that your attacks will only knock them down for a time. The only ones who can actually kill them are Uranus and Tuxedo Kamen, and that is only if they behead them. I wouldn't try for it though, since most Immortals that Annie associates with are at least 100 years old, and probably know more about sword combat than you do." At the nods he received from the Senshi, he released Mercury's hand and motioned them forward. After they were all through the door, Scott, Kevin, and Sailor Jupiter started running up the stairs with no further regard for the cameras. They had reached the tenth floor Jupiter's communicator beeped insistently.

"Jupiter the enemy has a new kind of Youma that seems to become immune to our attacks after it absorbs the ones we've defeated," Sailor Mars's voice came over the communicator. The negacreeps got away with the package and are on their way to the roof in an express elevator, you have to stop them before they get there." Scott nodded at this, and then remembered an access panel he had seen near the beginning of the hallway. Running back to it he cut it open to reveal a rapidly moving elevator cable. Without a moments hesitation he slashed his sword through the cable, and dove out of the way as the elevator car reached the level he was on by momentum alone then screeched to a halt with the door just above the opening. He saw light from the elevator as the occupants forced the doors open, then jumped back as he heard them talking. Kevin was quickly beside him with his sword drawn as they prepared for their enemies. They sensed that there was at least one Immortal in the elevator, and the fact that they could sense them, meant that their opponent were aware of their presence as well. As they waited tensely, Sailor Jupiter was making her way to the roof entrance side of the opening.

"Suddenly the wall in front of the door exploded outward, blasting both immortals against the wall, and knocking Scott unconscious. Kevin dragged himself back to his feet to see Sailor Jupiter holding off both Youma, and blocking the roof exit, and ran to help her. She had destroyed one Youma, when a man in a dark uniform appeared in its place and blasted her with some kind of energy attack. The two Immortals, who were carrying the captives dodged past her crumpled form as Kevin stumbled from a wave of pain that washed over him.

"Jarosite!!!" he shouted as a brief flash of memory told him who Jupiter's assailant was. "You're a dead man!!" He got back to his feet and raced to the roof, only to be stopped by the last remaining Youma. He was forced back, trying to get past it, when he saw the helicopter lift from the roof. With a yell of frustration he jumped high over the Youma, cutting it in half, lengthwise then landed with green ichor dripping from his blade. Kevin started swearing viscously, then drew a cellular phone from his hyperspace pocket, and made a call, talking in very viscous tone to the person on the other end. He snapped the phone shut, and then gathered some of the dust that remained of the last Youma, and made his way back down to the tenth floor, swearing the entire way.

To be continued...


End file.
